LUMOCX: sustainable LUnar Metal, Oxygen and Cement eXtraction methodology development
Context
Raw materials scarcity and the geographical dependency for critical materials is a growing concern within the EU. As demands for materials and minerals keeps on increasing, directing our view to space becomes an option to be considered. Humankind has continued to expand its reach beyond Earth, for which establishing a permanent base on the Moon is necessary. Launching technology has a large economic and ecological footprint. Producing resources, such as metals, cement-like materials and oxygen, in situ on other planets is thus required and should happen in a sustainable way. But testing the processes under the relevant conditions is time-consuming and expensive or, if executed on Earth, impossible. This is currently limiting further developments of these processes. Modelling can play a pivotal role in this. But the limited previous research did not focus enough on correct input data or experimental validation.
The current proposal will for the first time develop a terrestrial methodology to enable the design of a method to produce metal, oxygen and concrete- or glass-substitutes from lunar regolith with solar-produced electricity on the Moon. This combination of resources being extracted will enable the development of a waste-free in-situ resource utilisation process on the Moon without the need for extra reactants.
For this, several important aspects are currently unknown and will be investigated in detail: metal and oxygen extraction, heating, mixing and castability of molten oxide and glass formation from molten oxide. To take into account the lunar gravitation, which is experimentally practically impossible to do, the combined modelling-experimental approach in the proposed research is essential and to be applied for the first time in this context. The process is first investigated under terrestrial conditions, both experimentally and with a model, which is validated with the experiments. The validated model is then adapted to lunar gravity.
Research objectives
The current proposal will for the first time develop a terrestrial methodology to enable the design of an electricity-based method to produce metal, oxygen and concrete- or glass-substitutes from lunar regolith on the Moon. The investigation will use a unique combination of experiments and modelling to ensure experimental validation and the use of accurate input data for the models.
- The metal and oxygen producing reaction is the central focus of this proposal and the following aspects will be investigated: process thermodynamics, reaction kinetics and mass transport.
- In molten regolith electrolysis, electrons are used as reductant, but also to heat up the system, through the Joule effect. Hence, the molten oxide’s electrical conductivity is an essential parameter. This parameter will be investigated both under terrestrial and lunar conditions.
- During the reduction reaction, certain solid phases can form, which influence the overall viscosity and thus mass transport, possibly limiting further reactions. These solid particles also influence the castability of the concrete-substitute. Hence, both the formation of the solids will be investigated, as well as their influence on the total viscosity.
- Also as glass-substitute, the absence of crystallized particles is important. The crystallization will be investigated for cooling of the remaining molten oxide melt after the reduction process. This will happen both under terrestrial and under lunar conditions.
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