Editing Dinitrogen tetroxide (section)

==Power generation using N<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>==
The tendency of N<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> to reversibly break into NO<sub>2</sub> has led to research into its use in advanced power generation systems as a so-called dissociating gas.<ref>{{cite tech report |first=Robert J. |last=Stochl |title=Potential performance improvement by using a reacting gas (nitrogen tetroxide) as the working fluid in a closed Brayton cycle |number=TM-79322 |institution=[[NASA]] |year=1979 |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19800008230.pdf}}</ref> "Cool" dinitrogen tetroxide is compressed and heated, causing it to dissociate into [[nitrogen dioxide]] at half the molecular weight. This hot nitrogen dioxide is expanded through a turbine, cooling it and lowering the pressure, and then cooled further in a heat sink, causing it to recombine into nitrogen tetroxide at the original molecular weight.  It is then much easier to compress to start the entire cycle again. Such dissociative gas [[Brayton cycle]]s have the potential to considerably increase efficiencies of power conversion equipment.<ref>{{cite web|last=Ragheb|first=R.|title=Nuclear Reactors Concepts and Thermodynamic Cycles|url=http://mragheb.com/NPRE%20402%20ME%20405%20Nuclear%20Power%20Engineering/Nuclear%20Reactors%20Concepts%20and%20Thermodynamic%20Cycles.pdf|access-date=1 May 2013}}</ref>

The high molecular weight and smaller volumetric expansion ratio of nitrogen dioxide compared to steam allows the turbines to be more compact.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Binotti |first1=Marco |last2=Invernizzi |first2=Costante M. |last3=Iora |first3=Paolo |last4=Manzolini |first4=Giampaolo |date=March 2019 |title=Dinitrogen tetroxide and carbon dioxide mixtures as working fluids in solar tower plants |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0038092X1930091X |journal=Solar Energy |language=en |volume=181 |pages=203–213 |doi=10.1016/j.solener.2019.01.079|s2cid=104462066 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

N<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub> was the main component of the "nitrin" working fluid in the decommissioned [[Pamir-630D]] portable nuclear reactor which operated from 1985 to 1987.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Paliukhovich |first=V.M. |date=7 May 2023 |title=Safe Decommissioning of Mobile Nuclear Power Plant |url=https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/33/052/33052291.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507105914/https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/33/052/33052291.pdf |archive-date=7 May 2023 |access-date=7 May 2023 |website=International Atomic Energy Agency |publisher=Department for Supervision of Industrial and Nuclear Safety |publication-place=Minsk, Belarus}}</ref>