Oxygen extraction from lunar dry regolith: Thermodynamic numerical characterization of the carbothermal reduction

Troisi, Ivan; Lunghi, Paolo; Lavagna, Michèle

doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.07.021

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…And effective mixing of the gas reactants and removal of volatiles products is always one the key factors limiting system e ciency. [24,25] Other categories to obtain oxygen and valuable elements from lunar regolith including vacuum pyrolysis and electrochemical reaction. [26] However, these strategies either consume too much energy or too much water, which in itself is di cult to obtain on the moon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport of Volatiles in Agglutinates from Lunar Regolith of Chang’E-5 Mission

Zhang

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Volatiles transport in the lunar regolith is essential for lunar soil evolution and in-situ resources utilization (ISRU) and has not been fully understood. Here, we characterize a typical agglutinate particle from Chang’E-5 samples and demonstrate the transport behavior of volatiles through the porous structure. The results of surface and 3D structural characterization indicate that the formation of the smooth porous structure is mainly caused by volatiles flow. Based on the element distribution analysis, we further speculate the main component of the volatiles is gas water attributed to the reduction of FeO by abundant hydrogen in the superficial lunar regolith during micrometeoroids impacts. Numerical models of volatiles (gas water) transport in the porous agglutinate have been developed for different pressure conditions. The results show the ultrafast transport of volatiles makes the superficial regolith dry and barren under high-vacuum condition. We conclude that rapid escape of volatiles can hardly retain water in the superficial lunar soil yet provides opportunities for development of ISRU technology.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport of Volatiles in Agglutinates from Lunar Regolith of Chang’E-5 Mission

Zhang

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…In state-of-the-art approaches, there are three partial aspects that are considered mandatory for a sustainable plan for long-duration lunar habitats [ 12 ]: resource extraction from regolith, 3D manufacturing with local resources, and the recycling of disused materials. The first ISRU activities addressed the chemical extraction of oxygen and water from lunar regolith to produce breathable air, propellant, or human sustenance [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Additive in-space manufacturing processes are intended to mainly utilize local resources but also parts of disused spacecrafts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geotechnical and Shear Behavior of Novel Lunar Regolith Simulants TUBS-M, TUBS-T, and TUBS-I

et al. 2022

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The return to the Moon is an important short-term goal of NASA and other international space agencies. To minimize mission risks, technologies, such as rovers or regolith processing systems, must be developed and tested on Earth using lunar regolith simulants that closely resemble the properties of real lunar soil. So far, no singular lunar simulant can cover the multitude of use cases that lunar regolith involves, and most available materials are poorly characterized. To overcome this major gap, a unique modular system for flexible adaptable novel lunar regolith simulants was developed and chemically characterized in earlier works. To supplement this, the present study provides comprehensive investigations regarding geotechnical properties of the three base regolith simulant systems: TUBS-M, TUBS-T, and TUBS-I. To evaluate the engineering and flow properties of these heterogeneous materials under various conditions, shear tests, particle size analyses, scanning electron microscope observations, and density investigations were conducted. It was shown that small grains <25 µm (lunar dust) are highly compressive and cohesive even at low external stress. They are particularly important as a large amount of fine dust is present in lunar regolith and simulants (x50 = 76.7 to 96.0 µm). Further, ring shear and densification tests revealed correlations with damage mechanisms caused by local stress peaks for grains in the mm range. In addition, an explanation for the occurrence of considerable differences in the literature-based data for particle sizes was established by comparing various measurement procedures. The present study shows detailed geotechnical investigations of novel lunar regolith simulants, which can be used for the development of equipment for future lunar exploration missions and in situ resource utilization under realistic conditions. The results also provide evidence about possible correlations and causes of known soil-induced mission risks that so far have mostly been described phenomenologically.

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“…[3][4][5][6]. • Chemical reactions such as oxygen and metals extraction techniques [7][8][9][10][11].…”

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confidence: 99%

“…This paper is focused on the characterisation of a particular lunar simulant, NU-LHT-2M, used in the context of a study on oxygen/water extraction through a solid-state carbothermal reduction currently under development at Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi) [8,18]. A holistic approach to characterise a generic soil or simulant (lunar, martian, asteroids) is described, providing an overview of the main properties to inspect and test:…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The low-temperature carbothermal process uses a gaseous mixture of hydrogen (H 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ), which reacts with the feedstock in the 1273-1373 K temperature range. Carbon monoxide (CO) is mainly produced thanks to the reaction of methane and carbon with most of the oxides and minerals present in the regolith (see Section 2) [8]. Two phases are alternated to allow for the removal of deposited carbon from the regolith batch, one with only H 2 flowing and one with the methane-hydrogen mixture.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Planetary Soil Simulant Characterisation: NU-LHT-2M Study Case to Support Oxygen Extraction Lab Tests with a Low-Temperature Carbothermal Process

Zanotti,

Troisi,

Dottori

et al. 2024

Aerospace

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Since the landing on the lunar surface, the lunar regolith has begun to interact in different ways with landed elements, such as the wheels of a rover, astronaut suits, drills, and plants for extracting oxygen or manufacturing objects. Therefore, a strong effort has been required on Earth to fully characterise these kinds of interactions and regolith utilisation methods. This operation can only be performed by using regolith simulants, soils that are reproduced with the Earth’s rocks and minerals to match the real features. This article presents the main guidelines and tests for obtaining the properties of a generic simulant in terms of composition, physical and mechanical properties, solid–fluid interaction, and thermal properties. These parameters are needed for the designing and testing of payloads under development for planned lunar surface missions. The same tests can be performed on lunar, martian, or asteroid simulants/soils, both in laboratory and in situ. A case study is presented on the lunar simulant NU-LHT-2M, representative of the lunar highlands. The tests are performed in the context of an in situ resource utilisation (ISRU) process that aims to extract oxygen from the lunar regolith using a low-temperature carbothermal reduction process, highlighting the main regolith-related criticalities for an in situ demonstrator plant.

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Oxygen extraction from lunar dry regolith: Thermodynamic numerical characterization of the carbothermal reduction

Cited by 13 publications

References 30 publications

Transport of Volatiles in Agglutinates from Lunar Regolith of Chang’E-5 Mission

Transport of Volatiles in Agglutinates from Lunar Regolith of Chang’E-5 Mission

Geotechnical and Shear Behavior of Novel Lunar Regolith Simulants TUBS-M, TUBS-T, and TUBS-I

Planetary Soil Simulant Characterisation: NU-LHT-2M Study Case to Support Oxygen Extraction Lab Tests with a Low-Temperature Carbothermal Process

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