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Void

Member

Registered: 2011-12-29

Posts: 7,093

Minerals

I think I have strayed across several references of importance.

The management is welcome to move this if they like.  I did not see a good place to put it.

I started here:
http://marsnews.com/archives/2019/06/11 … -salt.html
Quote:

Device seeks to brew oxygen on Mars from dangerous salt

But I expect that it will liberated Chlorine as well.  Enough said, they try to get me to accept something I don't want, in order to read the full article.

So, Oxygen by the best means, but Chlorine from salts I guess, that's what matters.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_extraction_process
Quote:

Salt extraction process
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted.
Find sources: "Salt extraction process" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

The salt extraction process is an electrolytic method which may be used to extract valuable metals from slag, low-grade ores, or other materials by using molten salts. This method was developed by S. Seetharaman, O. Grinder, L. Teng and X. Ge at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden as part of a large Steel Eco-Cycle Project in 2005.
Description[edit]
In the first step of this process, the slag or other raw materials containing metal values of interest, e.g. chromium, is dissolved into the molten salt phase at a suitable temperature. A suitable flux must be found in order to achieve the dissolution of oxides. According to the Fajans' rules, AlCl3, as a covalent metal chloride, is able to release chloride ions, which then can effectively break the chemical bonds between metal and oxygen atoms, leading to the formation of corresponding soluble metal chlorides and capture of oxygen in Al2O3. AlCl3 was proved indeed to be a powerful fluxing agent in this regard.[1]
In the second step, the salt phase is subjected to electrolysis in order to recover the metal of interest as a cathode deposit. The salt melt used for extraction can be recycled. The metals can be selectively electrodeposited from the salt melt. There is also the option of aqueous processing of the salt phase containing the metal values. The process can design to be continuous by combining the two steps. The anode off-gas from electrolysis, Cl2 can be reused for accentuating the dissolution of the raw materials. On the other hand, the residue after processing, which consists essentially of Al2O3, can safely be used for landfill, building construction or as a raw material for the refractory industry.
Application[edit]
This process had been successfully employed for the recovery of chromium and iron from the electric furnace slag generated from the stainless steelmaking process, or from low-grade chromite ore.[2] It is also extended to extract copper or iron from both copper oxides and sulfides.[3]
The electrochemical behaviors of the metal ions (Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn) in the molten salts (NaCl-KCl-(CaCl2))with respect to this process were also extensively investigated.[4] Those results are also useful for the industrial electrowinning processes of related metal or alloy production.

I will note that sand dune materials include Chromium, Iron, and Titanium.  Of course there may be other low grade ores to use.

I will fish some things up from Dr. Zubrins book about the Mond Process, and similar for some other metals, mold forming, and 3D printing.  I have to look it up.

His book is "The case for Space", the reference in his books page #150.  "On the Asteroids".
He indicates that the use of Carbon Monoxide forming Carbonyl can process Iron, but also other metals; nickel, chromium, osmium, iridium, ruthenium, rhenium, cobalt, and tungsten.

He also says the molding process using the result,  can involve precision low-temperature metal casting.  He also indicates that the potential of using the extractions in 3D printing is just now being explored.  Seems to hold great potential.

So, my conclusion is that after all, metals and metal worked products should be rather available to a Martian settlement.

And apparently it does not require high grade ores.  That should be suitable to the settlers, as they may not have to seek out and mine high quality ores underground.

Chromium should be very important for many reasons.  My own strong interest is in the Chromium.  I see it as among other things being used to plate a coating on fiberglass mirrors, probably on motorized heliostats.  As Iron, and maybe Aluminum can be extracted by some means, I think a more standard type of motor for those proposed heliostats should be within reach.

The Aluminum is mentioned in the "Salt_extraction_process".
Quote:

On the other hand, the residue after processing, which consists essentially of Al2O3, can safely be used for landfill, building construction or as a raw material for the refractory industry.

So, here I am on thin ice.  Those materials sound useful in themselves, but shouldn't the Al be extractable by some kind of a next step?

So, after all, maybe a metals rich group of people on Mars.

Done

Last edited by Void (2019-06-14 16:03:43)

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Done.

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,866

Re: Minerals

We have known since Zubrin's experiments for fuels for a return trip home that insitu processing of mars would be the key to humans on mars. Its power that will be the sustainable energy levels which will be the limiter for man.
Depending on what we want will determine once we know its concentration as to what energy level an process can be used to gain it for mans use.
The hierarchy of each goal that we will achive starts with water and oxygen with fuels for return being above all others needing a weighting scale of importance for man on mars. There is also going to be traing of resources that are easier to omeby in other locations which may include Venus which is not on this graphics.

http://www.kennylevick.com/mars