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The current demilitarization processes employ open burning/open detonation which is not permitted by the environmental protection agency. Therefore, a systematic study has been carried out to convert waste/rejected nitramine propellant (NP) and fuel-rich-based propellant (FRP) into liquid fertilizer by digesting in dilute nitric acid followed by neutralization with potassium hydroxide and phosphoric acid. The obtained liquid fertilizers were fully characterized for nitrate, phosphate and ammonium ions along with potassium. Further, the effect of liquid fertilizers of NP and FRP on cluster bean plants was studied by taking different concentrations from 25 to 150 mL, and their effects on germination pattern, shoot growth, thickness of stem, size and number of leaves, number of pods and length over a full-grown period of plants were investigated. The results reveal that the germination index increases as the content of liquid fertilizer increases and the same trend was observed with respect to root and shoot growth. Also, broadness and the number of leaves showed an encouraging effect as concentration increases. Further, the final product, i.e. the number of pods of cluster bean and length in each pod was found to be more for liquid fertilizer of NP compared to FRP-based liquid fertilizer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Azo-bridged azole derivatives were designed and investigated in order to find comprehensive relationship between the structure and performance of nitrogen-rich energetic compounds. Density functional theory (DFT) was used to predict the optimized structures, heat of formation, and detonation properties. Introduction of the azido group greatly enhances the heat of formation of these derivatives due to the high energy contribution from the -N3 group. The crystal density was predicted by using the DREIDING force field. The nitroazoles show higher densities than amino and azido derivatives and hence better detonation performance. Thermal stability was analyzed using bond dissociation energies of C-NO2, C-NH2, and C-N3 bonds. Nucleus-independent chemical shifts (NICS) were calculated at the ring centers to find the stability via aromaticity. The sensitivity of the designed compounds were predicted on the basis of band gap between the highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital. The amino derivatives were found to be more stable and less sensitive than the designed compounds. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]