Hello there. I am planning on building a small rocket engine in the next months. I do have a bit of experience from a year and a half ago about liquid rocket engines as I built one together with a couple of my friends, being a simple and quite inefficient engine made from stainless steel, using a pintle injector (which was for us the hardest part to do) that ended up being… acceptable…
However this time, I do not have the oxidizer we used back then, that being Nitric Acid (HNO3). Here it is harder to get chemicals, either not finding a place that sells them or requiring lots of paper work and money. So, I have to make them myself, which is not really that bad, however, I intend not to make HNO3 as I did back than because it increased the electricity bill by a lot. (I used the Birkeland process)
So, the most on hand oxidizer I could use and make is H2SO4. I do not plan on building an efficient engine, something along 120 to 180 ISP would be enough (Wasserfall rocket range) that would burn for a couple of seconds. The engine is supposed to be only for static tests, testing the design.
Right now I am looking at H2SO4 because it is cheap to make, and for the fuel:
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Carbon Monoxide (CO); It is a bit difficult to make and it is a strong Lewis base if I remember correctly. As H2SO4 is a Lewis Acid, the reaction should be like this I assume: H2SO4+CO -> SO2 + CO2 + H2O (H2SO4 = [O] + SO2 + H2O)
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Acetylene (C2H2); It is easier to make than CO, requiring only CaC2 and H2O. The reaction is similar to CO: 5H2SO4 + C2H2 -> 2CO2 + 5SO2 + 6H2O
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Acetone? (C3H6O) I am not so sure about this one, the reaction may need another substance/impulse for combustion.
Of course, the other option would be liquid Oxygen or gaseous Oxygen (used in welding) but I try to avoid the Oxygen.
I am asking if it is a good idea, mostly regarding C2H2 and C3H6O as I found a bit of info about the CO-H2SO4 engine but nothing on Acetylene or Acetone.(Keep in mind that I am not the brightest at organic chemistry)