Ilmenite Reduction

Introduction

Reducing ilmenite (FeTiO₃) to produce oxygen, iron, and titanium in a lunar context has produced a number of proposals, many of them specifically aimed at oxygen production. Ilmenite is attractive for this purpose as the iron oxides it contains require less energy to reduce than any other oxide on the lunar surface. For this reason, proposals which have oxygen production as the primary goal usually focus on reduction of the iron content of ilmenite.

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Carbothermal Reduction

Oxygen can be retrieved from Ilmenite (FeTiO₃) and Rutile (TiO₂) by means of carbothermal reduction. In experiments, powdered carbon and powdered ilmenite/rutile were evenly mixed and then heated to 1500 degrees Celsius. The end products of this reaction are Oxygen and a high strength Ceramic-metal composite (Cermet) of Iron (Fe) and Titanium Carbide (TiC) which has high chemical stability. The amount of reinforcing TiC ceramic in the matrix can be controlled via the amount of rutile and carbon used^[1]. While this method provides a means of retrieving all of the oxygen from ilmenite/rutile and a potential for producing reinforced, high performance and wear components and cutting tools from lunar regolith, it is at the cost of highly valuable carbon needed for biological processes.

Stoichiometry for this reaction:

Ilmenite:
FeTiO₃ + 4C ---->Fe + TiC + 3CO

Ilmenite and Rutile:
FeTiO₃ + nTiO₂ + (4+3n)C ---->Fe + (1+n)TiC + (3+2n)CO
Where n represents the number of TiO₂ molecules

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