Process Metallurgy and Electrochemistry of Molten Salts, Liquid Metal Batteries, and Extra-terrestrial Materials Processing: An EPD Symposium in Honor of Don Sadoway: Prof. Sadoway Honorary Session IV
Sponsored by: TMS Extraction and Processing Division, TMS: Hydrometallurgy and Electrometallurgy Committee, TMS: Process Technology and Modeling Committee, TMS: Pyrometallurgy Committee
Program Organizers: Antoine Allanore, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Hojong Kim, Pennsylvania State University; Takanari Ouchi, University of Tokyo; Yasuhiro Fukunaka, JAXA/Waseda University

Thursday 2:00 PM
February 27, 2020
Room: 14A
Location: San Diego Convention Ctr

Session Chair: Hojong Kim, Pennsylvania State University; Takanari Ouchi, University of Tokyo


2:00 PM Introductory Comments

2:05 PM  Invited
Are the Metallic Iron Inclusions Exist on the Surface of the Moon?: Ramana Reddy1; 1University of Alabama
    This study discusses the possible existence of metallic inclusions on the surface of the Moon. In this work, experimental studies on stimulant lunar soil were conducted by performing thermodynamic analyses under the conditions that mimic the surface of the Moon. The results showed that iron is the only metal that can be significantly extracted from the lunar soil by hydrogen. The amount of hydrogen in the lunar system drastically affects the process of iron extraction. The yields of metallic iron from the lunar soil as a function of temperature and hydrogen content were evaluated. Even at a low temperature, the metallic iron tends to exist on the Moon surface if the concentration of hydrogen is higher than 0.018% (wt %) in the lunar soil. These results are in good agreement with metallic iron observed in the Apollo 11 lunar soils received from the Moon.

2:25 PM  Invited
Getting the Most from Models in High-Temperature Materials Processing: Robert Hyers1; 1University of Massachusetts
    Models of fluid flow, heat transfer, and mass transfer have become ubiquitous in materials processing. With the power of modern parallel computers, unprecedented complexity has now become routine. Nonetheless, a gap often remains between the sea of data and the solutions needed by the customer. This presentation will address a philosophy and set of methods for applying computational methods to bridge the gap, with diverse examples from materials for space exploration to process metallurgy.

2:45 PM  
Molten Oxide Electrolysis for the Production of Ferroalloys and Steel: Guillaume Lambotte1; Richard Bradshaw1; Tadeu Carneiro1; 1Boston Metal
     Molten Oxide Electrolysis has been studied for decades at MIT by Professor Donald R. Sadoway. With support from NASA, the American Iron and Steel Institute, and the Deshpande Center at MIT, Prof. Sadoway’s laboratory demonstrated, at the laboratory-scale, that molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) could produce oxygen on the Moon as well as numerous metals here on Earth. In 2013, Antoine Allanore, Lan Yin and Donald R. Sadoway published results that showed that iron oxide can be reduced by MOE using an inert anode, therefore creating the opportunity for emission-free steel production.Boston Metal was founded by Prof. Sadoway, Prof. Allanore and Dr. Yurko to scale up the technology by addressing the scientific and technical challenges at a scale a thousand times larger than the laboratory experiments at MIT. Here we present some of the results obtained at the pilot-scale for the production of ferroalloys and steel.

3:05 PM  
Thermodynamic and Kinetic Modelling of Molten Oxide Electrolysis Cells: William Judge1; Gisele Azimi1; 1University of Toronto
    Direct electrolytic extraction of molten iron from its oxide is an attractive alternative technology for reducing, or eliminating, greenhouse gas emissions associated with iron and steelmaking. While significant progress has been made to develop the process on the laboratory and industrial scales, there is no information on the anticipated performance of large scale molten oxide electrolysis cells in the open literature. In this work, we present a detailed thermodynamic and kinetic model to describe large scale molten oxide electrolysis cells. The model simultaneously considers the effect of different thermodynamic and kinetic parameters to predict energy requirements (kWh/ton) and throughput (tons/day) of electrolysis cells. In instances where existing technical or engineering information is absent for molten oxide electrolysis cells, analogy was drawn to Hall-Héroult cells for aluminum electrolysis.

3:25 PM Break

3:40 PM  Invited
Insights into the Oxidation Behavior of Cr1−xFex Anodes for Molten Oxide Electrolysis: Antoine Allanore1; Mohsen Esmaily2; 1Massachusetts Institute of Technology; 2Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Monash University
    Molten oxide electrolysis (MOE) is a possible carbon-free alternative to conventional steelmaking routes. However, MOE’s implementation in the industry has been delayed due to materials challenges in the large-scale production of the oxygen-evolving inert anode. As such, the study herein was aimed to generate new insights into the oxidation and electrochemical properties of Cr1−xFex anodes. The alloys resist the corrosive environment through the formation of a layered oxide scale composed of a continuous (Cr2-xAlx)O3, x ranging from 0.02 to 0.3, layer covered with an outer Mg-rich spinel layer. A survey into the electric properties of the inner oxide indicated that the (Cr2-xAlx)O3 layer acts as an intrinsic semi-conductor at the temperature foreseen. In addition, thermodynamic calculations were found to provide insights into the possible electrolysis-induced formation mechanism of the oxides formed on the Cr1−xFex alloy during electrolysis. The findings presented herein open up promising avenues in developing new metallic-based anodes for MOE.

4:00 PM  Invited
Hybrid Processes in Refining of Silicon: Mansoor Barati1; 1University of Toronto
    Metallurgical methods of producing high purity silicon are highly desired because of their large throughput and low cost. However, the required impurity levels are impossible to achieve with only one step of extraction or refining. The present paper gives an overview of the concepts and research on the production of high purity silicon from silica by a combination of electrowinning from molten salt, slag refining, and solvent refining, which can take place in a sequence. The experimental works on the solubility of SiO2 in salt, electrodeposition of Si into a liquid Cu cathode, and slag refining of Cu-Si are presented.