| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
2022 TMS Annual Meeting & Exhibition
|
| Symposium
|
2022 Technical Division Student Poster Contest
|
| Presentation Title |
SPG-1: Challenges for Molten Oxide Electrolysis in Reduced Gravity |
| Author(s) |
Matthew S. Humbert, Akbar Rhamdhani, Geoff Brooks, Chad Hargrave |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Matthew S. Humbert |
| Abstract Scope |
Molten Oxide Electrolysis (MOE) is a leading contender for processing extra-terrestrial minerals because it produces oxygen and liquid metal without the use of consumables. During electrolysis a gravitational field stratifies gas, electrolyte, and metal from each other by density. Processing on the moon, with ~1/6g, or Mars, with ~1/3g, will reduces the buoyancy force slowing bubble velocity and convection intensity. Low thermal conductivity, (~1W/m⋅K) and high viscosity, (~1Pa⋅s) of molten regolith contribute to thermal and chemical transport being dominated by convection, even as convection velocity decreases. By combining heat and mass transfer with temperature and composition dependent material properties we show Rayleigh-Bérnard type convection cells that may reduce Faradaic efficiency, induce “anode effect”, or freeze the system. We explore these system dynamics in Earth’s (1g), Mars’ (1/3g), and the Moon’s (1/6g) gravity fields concluding that the convective velocity and thus the thermal and mass diffusivity are proportional to gravitational acceleration. |
| Proceedings Inclusion? |
Undecided |
| Keywords |
Electrometallurgy, Extraction and Processing, Modeling and Simulation |