History of Hydrazine

This new molecule, because it was difficult and costly to produce, was of little more than academic interest until World War II, when attention became focused on rockets. Hydrazine loomed as an ideal fuel. The Germans succeeded in developing hydrazine hydrate, which contained 64% N2H4 and 36% water, adequate to fuel the first rocketed aircraft in history, the Messerschmitt Me 163B rocket-powered fighter plane in 1944. It could climb at the astounding rate of over 400 mph. That plane had limited wartime success and many in-flight failures, but it opened the door for more hydrazine research as a propellant. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the US extensively studied hydrazine in the late 1940s, exploring its potential as both a bipropellant and monopropellant.

During the 1940s, in the United States, limited quantities of hydrazine were being made for experimental purposes by Mathieson, which had initiated a research program as early as 1939. Mathieson had a natural interest in this compound since it was a producer of ammonia, chlorine and caustic soda, the basic raw materials of hydrazine, in their Saltville, Va site. Later engineering improvements in the original Raschig process led to a commercially feasible way to remove the water from the hydrate and convert the hydrazine to an anhydrous product.

In January 1947, a graduate student working under an Olin fellowship discovered the basic principles of the caustic dehydration process to produce anhydrous hydrazine. Laboratory work was begun immediately at East Alton, IL, and resulted in a contract from the USAF Air Materiel Command to dehydrate 20,000 pounds of German hydrazine hydrate. The U.S. Army Ordnance Department also developed an interest in hydrazine at about the same time.

Both Olin and Mathieson submitted bids. Eventually, Mathieson was awarded a contract to produce 10,000 pounds of anhydrous hydrazine. In l948, the manufacture of hydrazine was initiated in pilot-plant quantities at Niagara Falls, NY by Mathieson Alkali Works. In December of 1951, Olin management decided to go into the hydrazine business by means of a partnership with Mathieson. The joint venture was named Math-Olin, and the Mathieson site in Lake Charles was chosen for the new Raschig hydrazine plant.

That first large-scale hydrazine plant in the U.S. began production in July 1953. The plant produced hydrazine hydrate, which is 64% N2H4. Much of the hydrate was converted to anhydrous hydrazine via an azeotropic distillation for various government programs. Later, Olin and Mathieson merged completely to become Olin-Mathieson and finally Olin Corporation, later known as Arch Chemicals, then Lonza, before Arxada, and now Calca Solutions, still based in the Lake Charles Plant and producing hydrazine for aerospace, defense, and industrial applications.

In the 1950s, President Eisenhower created NASA as the space race began in earnest in 1957.
Learn about hydrazine’s role in outer space.

Hydrazine, a colorless and highly reactive compound (N₂H₄), was first discovered and named in 1875 by German chemist Emil Fischer. Initially studied for its unique chemical properties, hydrazine gained prominence in the early 20th century as a key ingredient in rocket and missile propellants due to its high energy output. During World War II, it was used in the German Messerschmitt Me 163 fighter jet as a propellant under the name “C-Stoff.” In the decades that followed, hydrazine found applications in space exploration, fuel cells, pharmaceuticals, and industrial processes. Today, it remains an essential component in aerospace engineering, water treatment, and chemical synthesis, despite its toxic and volatile nature requiring careful handling.