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A micro catalytic combustor was studied as an energy source to supply heat to a micro scale endothermic reactor. The catalyst bed was made from porous material called Isolite B5 coated with Pt catalyst by the incipient wetness method. The catalyst bed is inserted in a millimeter scale reaction chamber and temperature distribution along the outside wall of the reactor was measured by varying the flow rate and equivalence ratio of the hydrogen and air mixture.

Hydrazine monopropellant is often used with a spontaneous catalyst a high-performance aircraft emergency power unit (EPU) and in aerospace propulsion; however, it is toxic and requires special handling. A hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-based gas generator, which is suitable for a new family of environmentally friendly monopropellants and is a substitute for toxic hydrazine in EPUs, is introduced in this study. A MnO2/Al2O3 catalyst for H2O2 decomposition, superior to silver catalysts at normal starting and reactivity capabilities, was selected and developed. The performance tests of coupling the gas generator with a turbocharger showed acceptable results for an aircraft EPU with decomposition above 90%, 37 kW maximum turbine output power, and a maximum starting delay of 1.2 s during normal starting operation. The gas generator also demonstrated satisfactory performance during repeated pulse operation at a pulse duration of 3 s and 60 s under various output conditions.