Ingeniería Energética

URI permanente para esta colecciónhttps://hdl.handle.net/11441/11577

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Terrestrial Demonstrator for the Hydrogen Extraction of Oxygen from Lunar Regolith with Concentrated Solar Energy
(2022-03-01) Denk, Thorsten; Gómez Camacho, Carlos; Universidad de Sevilla. Departamento de Ingeniería Energética
An experimental plant for the reduction of granular ilmenite (FeTiO3) with hydrogen (H2) powered by concentrated solar radiation was designed, built, and tested to demonstrate extraction of oxygen from lunar soil at the Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA). This is done by a two-step process with water (H2O) as the intermediate product. The center-piece of the system is a fluidized bed reactor with a capacity of 22 kg of ilmenite, capable of operating in fully continuous mode. The reactor has a large quartz window that allows the concentrated solar radiation to heat the particles directly without the need for any heat exchanger surfaces. The system includes most of the peripheral components required to demonstrate its functioning as close as possible to what can be expected on the Moon. This includes in particular the cleaning system for the off-gas from the reactor, the extraction of the product water, and the gas recovery. The system was operated in the 60 kW Solar Furnace at PSA with solar power during 150 hours in four test campaigns. All initial test goals were successfully achieved. The maximum operation temperature in the reactor was 977 °C, and during a total of 21 hours of operation with hydrogen, the chemical reaction produced more than 1300 ml of water. To this date, this is the only large scale terrestrial demonstrator in Europe that has successfully produced water from minerals present in lunar regolith solely with concentrated solar power as heat source, showing a path for future chemical production on the lunar surface.

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Examinando Ingeniería Energética por Autor "Denk, Thorsten"