Shaspreet Kaur

(Advisor: Dr. Peter G. Loutzenhiser)

will defend a doctoral thesis entitled,

Metals/Metalloids and Oxygen Production from Lunar Regolith via Carbothermal and Thermal Reduction for Lunar In-Situ Resource Utilization

On

Tuesday, July 22 at 1:30 p.m.

Price Gilbert 4222

Abstract 

This dissertation focuses on reducing the oxides contained in lunar regolith and simulants via thermal and carbothermal reduction to valuable metals/metalloids such as Si, Fe, and Al, that are useful as construction materials for building habitation, industrial, and scientific infrastructures on the Moon, and oxygen that is useful for rocket propellent and life support. Thermal and carbothermal reduction are viable pathways of processing lunar regolith as they require little to no resources from Earth and are capable of operating in achievable temperatures at the low-pressure surface of the Moon, when coupled to solar concentrating infrastructures. Pyrolyzed activated carbon was used as the reductant in this investigation. The extensive work presented in this dissertation aims to answer two major research questions: (1) What metals/metalloids can be extracted from lunar regolith via thermal reduction? (2) What metals/metalloids can be extracted from lunar regolith via thermal reduction? To answer these questions, thermodynamic analyses were first conducted to identify theoretical favorability of metal/metalloid productions as functions of temperature, pressure, regolith compositions, and carbon content. Then, experimental investigations were conducted under inert and ultra-high vacuum environments coupled with solid-state surface material characterization to study reaction extents as well as identify and quantify experimental products.

Committee 

• Dr. Peter G. Loutzenhiser – G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering (advisor)
• Dr. Thomas M. Orlando – School of Physics; School of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Dr. Satish Kumar – G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
• Dr. Devesh Ranjan – G. W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
• Dr. William Jud Ready – Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory, GTRI