William C. Jenkin |
Galactic
Mining Industries, Inc.
A NEW AND IDEAL PROCESS:
IRON
RECOVERY FROM MOON MINERALS AND
FABRICATION DIRECTLY INTO USEFUL PRODUCTS
The Technology:
1.
The
iron is extracted from a powdered hydrogen reduced mineral such as ilmenite by
means of reaction with carbon monoxide gas, which results in formation of a
volatile compound, iron carbonyl (b.p. 103°C).
2.
This
volatile compound contains 29% iron and its vapors are directed to contact a
hot (175°-200°C) mandrel or shaped substrate in an air-free enclosure,
typically at 75°-100°C.
3.
The
vapors will decompose at the hot surface and build up a structurally sound
deposit of iron in a shape the reverse of the mandrel. Thus can be formed tooling, tubes, pressure
cylinders, vessels, habitat shapes, poles, etc.
This technique is called CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (CVD).
Favorable Advantages:
To
make steel on the moon, CVD presents remarkably favorable advantages.
Once
equipment is shipped from earth the process can be started on a small
scale. No such things as a foundry, or
smelting process or direct iron reduction process is required.
A steady
supply from earth is not required. The
process requires carbon monoxide gas, possibly nitric oxide gas and also water,
all of which once shipped to the moon ARE RECYCLED. At intervals. only loss of supplies will need
to be replaced. In the meantime, these
materials ARE RECYCLED.
Lead
metal will also be needed as a mandrel material, but WILL BE RECYCLED.
The water will be electrolyzed to get hydrogen to reduce the iron mineral before carbon monoxide extraction and WILL BE RECYCLED.
The Grand Perspective:
It is
commonly agreed that the goal is COLONIZATION OF THE MOON and use of in situ
resources. The proposed technology will
be called CARBONYL TECHNOLOGY.
Colonization
will be successful only with maximum utilization of in situ resources on the
moon. The proposed technology does just
that.
Examples
of forms that can be produced:
·
Simple
poles, hollow tubes, 1 or 1 1/2” in diameter, 1/16”wall, lengths 6 ft or more.
·
Flat
panels of various sizes, corrugated if desired.
·
Containers
of a variety of shapes
·
Pressure
cylinders
·
Eventually,
habitats
Page
1. CHARACTERISTICS OF CARBONYL CVD................................................... 3
Figure A................................................................................................................................... 4
2. BACKGROUND OF CARBONYL
CVD.......................................................... 5
3. CVD FORMS PRODUCED
1970-1991.......................................................... 6
Figure B.................................................................................................................................... 7
Figure B Cont........................................................................................................................... 8
4. UNDERSTANDING &
VISUALIZING CVD CARBONYL TECHNOLOGY.......... 9
Figure C................................................................................................................................. 10
5. SIMPLE LAB APPARATUS........................................................................ 11
Figure D................................................................................................................................. 12
6. COMPLETE LABORATORY
LAYOUT OF SYSTEM...................................... 13
Figure E.................................................................................................................................. 14
7. A VERSATILE
TECHNOLOGY: 4 SELECTED CHAMBERS......................... 15
Figure F.................................................................................................................................. 16
8. ADAPTING IRON
CARBONYL SYNTHESIS TO LUNAR NEEDS.................. 17
Figure G................................................................................................................................. 18
9. FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF
CARBONYL TECHNOLOGY.............................. 19
Figure H................................................................................................................................. 20
Figure I................................................................................................................................... 21
10. APPENDIX............................................................................................... 22
Bio of William
C. Jenkin............................................................................................... 22
List of United
States Patents....................................................................................... 23
1. CHARACTERISTICS OF CARBONYL CVD
Expectations
of an iron CVD technology are that it will duplicate our nickel CVD
technology. In the next section of this
bulletin, the outstanding accomplishments of nickel CVD are presented for
comparison. But what exactly is
CVD? Chemical vapor deposition is a
process whereby metal (nickel, iron, aluminum) is chemically converted into a
vaporizable compound, from which metal is deposited molecule by molecule onto a
heated form. It is a manufacturing and
coating process that results in full strength steel or nickel.
Nickel
CVD is done at the rate of .010” of metal per hour. Higher rates can be used, but this is the
maximum rate for the best quality of CVD deposits :
§
Deposits
over large areas are very uniform.
§
Internal
corners are filled far better than with any other deposition technology,
§
Projections
of any parts of the mandrel do not acquire excessive buildup as is typical with
other deposition technologies.
One
cannot emphasize the above enough because it places carbonyl CVD technology in
a superior class by itself.
Some
photographs are attached illustrating the above valuable characteristics [FIG A].
They are cross sections of nickel deposits that illustrate corner
filling and non-build-up on projections.
Carbonyl
CVD of nickel and iron is also outstanding because commercial strong durable
metals are produced, which are also of reasonable cost. Compare this with any other CVD.
Nickel CVD Forms produced in Development Period 1955-1970
Showing
detailed & superior corner filling & rounding
|
A1
|
A2 |
|
|
|
|
A3 |
A4 |
|
|
|
2. BACKGROUND OF CARBONYL CVD
The
Use of chemical vapor deposition of commercial metals such as nickel, iron, and
aluminum has been overlooked for uncertain reasons. CVD is used in industry to deposit silicon
for all our computer chips. CVD is
widely used to coat metal cutting tools with titanium carbo-nitride. CVD is used to make pyrolytic carbon forms
for aircraft brakes. But there is no
commercial metal CVD currently performed except by INCO, Ltd.
CVD is used by INCO to extract nickel
on a large scale, upwards of 100,000,000 pounds per year. The ore concentrate is reacted with carbon
monoxide to make nickel carbonyl, which is decomposed to make nickel powder or
pellets.
The only effort to use carbonyl
technology aside from this was by Commonwealth Engineering Co., of
Nickel carbonyl is very toxic. This would discourage use of CVD of
nickel. However, another reason for lack
of development was the lack of some group to lead the way. In the period 1958-1964, Jenkin provided the
leadership required. W.C. Jenkin has 17
patents.
The chemistry of iron and nickel
carbonyl is very similar. In the
following presentation, much is told about the accomplishments of nickel
carbonyl CVD. Iron carbonyl CVD is not
as simple as the nickel variety; however, time so far spent on iron CVD is
infinitesimal compared to what has been spent on nickel CVD. It is believed by me and supported by my
associates that an iron CVD technology as good as the proven nickel technology
will develop.
A SURVEY OF 20 YEARS OF NICKEL CVD:
3. CVD FORMS PRODUCED 1970-1991
The development period of nickel CVD
lasted from 1955 to 1970. From then on,
it passed out of the laboratory into production technology.
On the accompanying page are 12
photographs [FIG B] of different forms produced during the production period of
1970 to 1992.
There are so many 1/8” nickel low
pressure polymer moldings because several machine shops found these complex
shapes were able to be mounted favorably for molding of polymers, a molding
process called RIM (Reaction Injection Molding). When they found the mounted shell worked well
for the polymer molding, they were ready to buy another. So there were not the usual years of
experimenting of a new product.
Many nickel metal shells were also made
for rotational casting because they were much stronger and durable than forms
made by electroplating or cast aluminum.
Nickel CVD Forms produced in Production Period 1970-1992
|
|
|
|
B1 Surfboard mold 10 ft for plastic
rotational casting |
B2
Buick fascia RIM mold 5 ft long, 100 lbs |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
B3
|
B4
Tractor seat mold 24” x 24” |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
B5
Bumper fascia RIM mold, 100 lbs |
B6
48 cavity mold, rotates to form plastic cups |
More Nickel CVD Forms produced in Production Period 1970-1992
|
|
|
|
|
B7 12 ft Kayak rotational casting
mold |
B8
Hollow industrial mixer blade, 20” long |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
B9
Ford dashboard 6 ft RIM casting mold |
B10
Michelin Man rotational casting mold for plastics |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
B11
Exterior of part for dot matrix printer showing 72 hours of CVD
deposition to 1/2“ thick. Interior is complicated passages |
||
|
B12
Mold for dipping in latex to make rubber gloves |
|
4.
UNDERSTANDING & VISUALIZING CVD CARBONYL TECHNOLOGY
On earth, carbonyl CVD is commonly
accomplished at slightly above ambient pressure, just enough to make the vapors
move around.
The accompanying line drawing [ FIG C]
is the cross section of a popular type of CVD chamber. The chamber is divided into two sections by
the mandrel in the middle and the cast RTV silicon rubber separators. The result is that vapors can be injected and
isolated in the upper half of the chamber, while the bottom half of the chamber
is the heating section. The heating
section consists of a series of jets of a heat exchange fluid typically at
185°C directed at the back side of the mandrel to be coated.
The illustration shows a mandrel to
produce half of a basket ball mold, a simple mold to be made but it illustrates
the principles of the apparatus for accomplishing nickel CVD of a part.
The mandrel is a cast high-temperature
epoxy resin loaded with aluminum powder and granules to make it thermally
conductive. With the heat transfer fluid
at 185°C hitting the bottom side, the top of the mandrel where deposition
occurs is at 175°C. A mandrel can also
be made of cast tin or lead metal.
The principle: heat the shape to be coated to 175°C, but
keep all parts exposed to vapors not to be coated below 125°C. The heat exchange fluid type of heat is
advantageous because large forms can be evenly heated.
In various arrangements for
accomplishing CVD, heat can be applied by conduction from electrical heating
elements, or by infrared heat through transparent windows.
Popular Nickel CVD Apparatus For Deposition
5. SIMPLE LAB APPARATUS
To Test Chemistry & Metallurgical Quality
of Deposits
This is presented as part of a desire
to increase popular conception of how simple carbonyl CVD can be done due to
low temperature required.
The accompanying line drawing [FIG D]
is a vertical cross section of a lab chamber used to study the chemistry and
metallurgy of carbonyl CVD deposition.
It will be used, for example, to upgrade the technology of iron CVD to
that of nickel CVD. The key to this
chamber is a metal diaphragm stretched like a drum head between two rings, C
& D. The heated platen is pushed up
against it to make the diaphragm taut.
Diaphragm for iron CVD is .001-.003”
stainless steel. For nickel CVD (at
slightly lower temperature of 175°C vs. 200°C for iron) aluminum can be
used. A new diaphragm is used for each
experiment.
Use of the diaphragm serves to confine
heat to only the platen area while the rest of the apparatus is warmed only to
lower temperatures.
CVD Test Chamber
6. COMPLETE
LABORATORY LAYOUT OF SYSTEM
This diagram [FIG E] is presented for
further communication of the elements of the CARBONYL MINING – CVD SYSTEM. This is a simplified earthbound lab setup, as
used for nickel CVD.
For an iron system, the fluidized bed
reactor is replaced with the chamber shown in Section 7, wherein the reactor
serves two purposes: the iron mineral is
reduced in hydrogen as a first step, and then immediately afterward reacted
with carbon monoxide to produce iron carbonyl.
The left half of the drawing shows the
basic equipment for carbonyl synthesis and storage. The right half shows a chamber for carbonyl
CVD with a lab diaphragm type CVD chamber.
When production systems are someday built, synthesis could go directly
to a production CVD chamber.
Complete Laboratory Layout of System
7. A VERSATILE TECHNOLOGY: 4 SELECTED CHAMBERS
To illustrate the
versatility of CVD technology, four drawings [FIG F] depict some of the many
completely different types of manufacture that are possible with a change in
the method of deposition and the chamber.
1. Hollow Slush
Casting
Drawing 1
illustrates a technology wherein a hollow slush casting can be coated and then
the lead melted out. Other shapes can be
cast from lead, coated with metal, and melted out.
2. Internal
casting into inflatable silicon structures
Drawing 2 shows a scheme
that hopefully will work for habitats.
An inflatable RTV silicon rubber structure is made up laced with
electrical resistance heating wire.
Vapors are generated and metal deposited internally when heated up.
3. Injection
molding
Drawing 3
shows CVD in its simplest form. A split
metal heated mold has vapors injected internally to deposit and form a long one
inch diameter with perhaps a 1/16” thick wall.
The split mold is opened and the tube removed. Tubes 4 to 6 feet or longer can be used for
structures – there are no trees on the
moon.
4. Deposition on
a heated mandrel
This is a
repeat of the apparatus described in Section 3. Here again, the mandrel has a peripheral
silicone rubber separator around it and divides the chamber into two
parts. The upper part is where the
vapors are distributed and contact the mandrel and the deposit forms. The lower part is where the heat is applied
by means of jets of recirculated heating fluid.
There are many other setups that have
been used for carbonyl CVD. The low
temperatures of carbonyl CVD make a wide number of setups possible. Fibers and sheet materials are being
continuously coated by nickel CVD in production using infrared heat.
Four Different Chambers for Different CVD Deposition
|
F1 ~ Compressed Gas
Cylinders |
F2 ~ Habitats &
Storage |
|
|
|
|
F3 ~ Tubes &
Poles |
F4 ~ Large Flattish
Pieces |
|
|
|
8. ADAPTING IRON CARBONYL SYNTHESIS TO LUNAR
NEEDS
Mining
for iron on the moon calls for changes in the synthesis of iron carbonyl. [ FIG G]
The
ilmenite ore must be reduced in hydrogen to free up metallic iron. This is projected to require at least 700°C,
maybe 900°C. The chamber, therefore,
must be able to withstand this kind of heat.
Following
this, the temperature for reaction with carbon monoxide is around 100°C. This presents no heat problem. However, it is reported that iron carbonyl
synthesis is not very successful when the bed is fluidized, by bubbling the CO
through it by bottom injection. Normal
commercial synthesis is done at 2000-3000 psi.
At these pressures for the carbonyl synthesis, the carbonyl is trapped
on the iron surface as a liquid or solid and slows the reaction. We plan to use top injection and much lower
pressures, e.g., 200-500 psi. The
drawing shows an attempt to use a separately operated fluidizing system.
Transferring
the reduced mineral to a fluidizable tube without air exposure is very tricky.
Hence,
the proposed procedure is to design and build a chamber that will do both –
reduce the mineral and without exposure to air, proceed with the carbonyl
reaction. This lack of exposure to air
should make the synthesis operate well at proposed lower pressures.
The
accompanying drawing proposes such an arrangement.
Other
steps are necessary to be taken to adapt technology to LUNAR needs. The iron CVD process needs to be upgraded to
be as good as that for nickel carbonyl.
It
is proposed that instead of shipping carbon monoxide to the moon, that carbon
dioxide is shipped and converted to CO by passing over heated carbon: CO2 + C
2CO. By this step, By this step, the weight to be
shipped is reduced to 1/4. One advantage
is that CO2 liquefies at 860
lbs pressure so that a liquid is shipped instead of gas. Cylinders of a much lighter weight can be
used as CO is typically stored as a gas under 1500 lbs pressure. This conversion can be done as the gas is
used.
§
It
should be emphasized that when the metallic carbonyls decompose in CVD, carbon
monoxide is released and is stored and recycled.
§
Hydrogen
is needed for the reduction of the ilmenite ore. It is presumed water will be shipped to the
moon and electrolyzed to produce hydrogen.
When the ilmenite is reduced, water is created and is recovered and
recycled.
§
Much
electrical power will be required so a substantial system of solar power
generators is required plus storage facilities.
All
of the above add up to a tremendous reduction in facilities needed over
conventional smelter techniques, or foundry operation, or direct iron reduction
followed by casting and other fabrication techniques.
Adapting the Synthesis Step
To Manufacture On The Moon
DUAL PURPOSE
9. FUTURE DIRECTIONS OF CARBONYL TECHNOLOGY
The
steps in section 8 to adapt iron carbonyl synthesis to lunar needs have to come
first. Fabrication of poles, panels and
construction materials for early habitats will then become important.
A
look at the drawing on the accompanying page [FIG H] shows one greatly
speculative but not impossible way to make habitats by metal coating the
insides of inflatable structures of RTV silicone rubber. The silicone rubber can withstand 200°C and
electrical resistance heating wire can be embedded in the inflatable. This will be way in the future as operational
technology and know-how are acquired.
Following that is an artist’s conception of what the technology might
look like in action [FIG I].
EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES TO BE SHIPPED TO THE MOON
1. Digging equipment
2. Pulverizing equipment
3. Transport equipment
4. Converter to make CO gas; storage for
CO.
5. Supply of CO2 liquid and
storage.
6. Hydrogen reduction and carbonyl
reaction chamber and accessories.
7. Water supply and storage.
8. Electrolyzing equipment to make
hydrogen and accessories.
9. Liquid iron carbonyl storage.
10.
CVD
system including vaporizer, metering pump, 1 or 2 or 3 CVD chambers, recovery
condenser, etc.
11.
Solar
electric generators and storage battery system.
12.
Replacement
supplies of operating losses of supplies of CO2 and water.