Plasma-based Steel Rod or Rebar Production from In Situ Materials
Abstract
The probability of lunar ice has redefined the importance of earlier research reporting Fe as a byproduct of O production from lunar regolith. That emphasis is now on Fe and other materials for in situ resources for construction. In pursuit of O from lunar ilmenite, we have tried (1) a resonating cavity microwave plasma reactor, (2) a nontransferred arc plasma torch feeding a cylindrical reactor, and (3) an inductively coupled plasma reactor feeding a quench chamber with relative success. Instead of using these or other O-focused strategies, and instead of using commercial submerged electric arc smelting of ilmenite to produce Fe, a compact, portable, light, plasma-based cyclone reactor could be adapted as another choice. Cyclone reactors have been under development for several decades, and P. R. Taylor and coworkers have extended their evolution and used them effectively on iron taconites as well as other materials. The advantages of the plasma reactor over other current steel making processes include continuous operation, higher through puts in small reactors, enhanced heat and mass transfer rates, higher temperatures, easy separation of liquids and gases, capture and recycle of plasma gases, and no feed agglomeration. The procedure for producing steel was to feed taconite and CO/CO2 mixtures into the cyclone reactor (Fig. 1), The results were excellent. The procedure and results for lunar ilmenite would be similar. Electrostatically concentrated ilmenite and magnetically concentrated Fe and associated agglutinates would be fed into the reactor along with reductant. Plasma reactors can be modified to produce Al, Ti, glass, ceramics, and advanced materials, and an already automated reactor system can be further automated for remote operation.
- Publication:
-
Using in situ Resources for Construction of Planetary Outposts
- Pub Date:
- January 1998
- Bibcode:
- 1998uisr.work...18W
- Keywords:
-
- Iron;
- Lunar Rocks;
- Smelting;
- Steels;
- Metallurgy;
- Foundries;
- Lunar Resources;
- Plasma Torches;
- Ilmenite;
- Lunar and Planetary Exploration