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Treatability Study of Pentaborane(9)Procedures for the safe destruction of liquid pentaborane(9), B5H9, by solvolysis were investigated. The objective of the study was to establish the optimum conditions for a pilot plant operation that would use water, or alcohol, or water-alcohol mixtures as the solvolysis reagent Small amounts of B5H9 sprayed from a syringe will not necessarily enflame, nor will a small pool on a spot plate. Therefore, a procedure was developed to reproducibly demonstrate the flammability of B5H9 In these tests every sample of neat B5H9 ignited and burned with a very sooty flame till the sample was consumed. The spontaneous self-ignition of B5H9 was quenched by the addition of small concentrations of the ethers THF (tetrahydrofuran) or DME (1,2-dimethoxy ethane). It was found that 10% (volume) of either provided total quenching with a large margin of safety. When these stabilized solutions were exposed to air, they decomposed and evaporated leaving a residue that was identified by NMR analysis as boric acid. Most of the laboratory solvolysis experiments used the 90% B5H9, 10% THF solution. This mixture was safer to handle and its solvolysis reactivity was virtually identical to that of 100% B5H9. Reaction rates were analyzed by measurement of hydrogen evolved during the solvolysis reactions. In terms of the minimum overall complete reaction time, the data indicate that 50150 alcohol/water is the optimum solvolysis reagent. This reaction produced a mixture of boric acid, B(OH)3, and triethoxyborane, B(OEt)3 [Et = C2H5], and mixed exchange derivatives thereof.
Document ID
20010002114
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
McDonald, Joseph K.
(Army Aviation and Missile Command Redstone Arsenal, AL United States)
Wright, Jeffery S.
(Army Aviation and Missile Command Redstone Arsenal, AL United States)
Gaines, Donald F.
(Wisconsin Univ. Madison, WI United States)
Date Acquired
August 20, 2013
Publication Date
May 1, 2000
Publication Information
Publication: JANNAF 18th Safety and Environmental Protection Subcommittee Meeting
Subject Category
Inorganic, Organic And Physical Chemistry
Meeting Information
Meeting: Safety and Environmental Protection
Location: Cocoa Beach, FL
Country: United States
Start Date: May 8, 2000
End Date: May 12, 2000
Sponsors: Department of the Army, Department of the Air Force, NASA Headquarters, Department of the Navy
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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