In-situ oxygen extraction from TiO2 using laser thermal vacuum metallurgy

One of the greatest challenges for long-term human activities on the Moon is the development of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) technologies, including in-situ oxygen extraction. In this study, a novel method called laser thermal vacuum metallurgy (LTVM) was proposed for oxygen extraction from lunar regolith , specifically using TiO 2 as raw material. Firstly, the theoretical feasibility of oxygen production from TiO 2 was elucidated through thermodynamic calculations. Subsequently, the impact of laser power density on the decomposition behavior of TiO 2 was investigated. The results demonstrate that through the augmentation of laser power density to elevate temperatures, there is a substantial enhancement observed in both the pyrolysis and vaporization processes of TiO 2 . Under the conditions of a laser power density of 2.48 kW/cm 2 , the surface temperature of TiO 2 can be maintained at approximately 2175 °C. The resulting pyrolysis products consist of Ti 6 O 11 (8.2 ± 0.5 wt %), Ti 5 O 9 (23.7 ± 0.6 wt %), Ti 4 O 7 (10.9 ± 0.4 wt %), and Ti 3 O 5 (57.2 ± 0.8 wt %). Further combining with the result of gas collection, the estimated oxygen extraction rate is approximately 43.3 L per kilogram of TiO 2 . Therefore, LTVM holds the potential to provide a new approach for in-situ oxygen extraction from titanium-containing lunar regolith on the Moon.