Nate Scovill processed cans of Red Bull into functional solid rocket fuel using a technique called rocket candy: sugar combined with potassium nitrate as an oxidizer.
The process required three steps before the mixture was usable. First, a vacuum chamber stripped out the carbonation, since CO2 and open flame are incompatible. Then heat evaporated the moisture, producing a thick syrup. Then potassium nitrate was mixed in to create the fuel-oxidizer compound. The original article is worth reading for the specific ratios and the points where this process can go catastrophically wrong.
Rocket candy is not new, and Hackaday covered DIY versions as far back as 2014. What this project adds is a proof-of-concept for impure, commercial sugar sources. The practical ceiling here is hobbyist rocketry. The practical floor is an uncontrolled detonation. That gap is exactly why you should read the full piece before attempting any of this.
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