The use of tribocharging in the electrostatic beneficiation of lunar simulant
Abstract
The use of tribocharging as a potential method to provide sufficient charge to several different lunar simulants for electrostatic beneficiation was investigated. The objective was to determine whether specific minerals of interest (e.g., ilmenite) that are present in lunar regolith could be enriched in concentration by beneficiation that would therefore allow for more efficient extraction forinsituresource utilization use. The production of oxygen, water, and other resources on the Moon from raw materials is vital for future missions to the Moon. Successful separation of ilmenite was achieved for a prepared simulant (KSC-1), which is a mixture of pure commercially supplied pyroxene, olivine, feldspar, and ilmenite, in a 4 : 4 : 1 : 1 ratio, showing proof of concept when tribocharged against three different charging materials, namely, Al, Cu, and PTFE. Separation by chemical composition was also observed for existing lunar simulants JSC-1 and JSC-1A; however, the interpretation of the separation was difficult due to the complex mineralogy of the simulants compared to the simple prepared mixture.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In available literature, electrostatic separation is primarily investigated for enriching ilmenite from lunar regolith.
“In the available literature, electrostatic separation is primarily investigated for enriching ilmenite from Lunar regolith [64,71,73-78].”
From A comprehensive review of lunar-based manufacturing and construction (2024) · cites this paper as [77]
Three methods have been utilized for beneficiating lunar regolith through electrostatic forces: conductive induction via slide separators, tribocharging with parallel plate separators, and electrostatic traveling wave technique.
“Besides, in the literature, three methods have been utilized for beneficiating Lunar regolith through the use of electrostatic forces: conductive induction via slide separators [71,73,74,79], tribocharging with parallel plate separators [70,75-78], and the electrostatic traveling wave technique [72,80-82].”
From A comprehensive review of lunar-based manufacturing and construction (2024) · cites this paper as [77]
Cites
Wiley encyclopedia of electrical and electronics engineering
(1999) · Choice Reviews Online · doi:10.5860/choice.37-1289 · Cited by 695 · see citing works
Lunar bases and space activities of the 21st century
Mendell, W. W. (1985) · Lunar and Planetary Institute eBooks · Cited by 344 · see citing works
(1994) · Engineering, Construction, and Operations in Space IV · Cited by 202 · see citing works
Contact charging of lunar and Martian dust simulants
Sternovsky, Z., Robertson, S., Sickafoose, A. A., et al. (2002) · Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres · doi:10.1029/2002je001897 · Cited by 126 · see citing works
Engineering, Construction, and Operations in Space IV
Galloway, R. G., & Lokaj, S. (1994) · Cited by 94 · see citing works
Allen, C. C., Graf, J. C., & McKay, D. S. (1994) · Engineering, Construction, and Operations in Space IV · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Tribocharging lunar simulant in vacuum for electrostatic beneficiation
Captain, J., Trigwell, S., Arens, E., Biris, A., Captain, J., Quinn, J., & Calle, C. (2007) · AIP Conference Proceedings · doi:10.1063/1.2437538 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
Self-citationElectrostatic Separation and Sizing of Ilmenite in Lunar Soil Simulants and Samples
Agosto, W. N. (1984) · Lunar and Planetary Science Conference · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Electrostatic beneficiation of ores on the moon surface
INCULET, I. I., & Criswell, D. R. (1979) · NASA Technical Reports Server (NASA) · Cited by 3 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
First demonstration on direct laser fabrication of lunar regolith parts
Krishna Balla, V., Roberson, L. B., O'Connor, G. W., Trigwell, S., Bose, S., & Bandyopadhyay, A. (2012) · Rapid Prototyping Journal · doi:10.1108/13552541211271992 · Cited by 186 · see citing works
Self-citationSanders, G. B., & Larson, W. E. (2013) · Journal of Aerospace Engineering · doi:10.1061/(asce)as.1943-5525.0000208 · Cited by 173 · see citing works
The beneficiation of lunar regolith for space resource utilisation: A review
Rasera, J. N., Cilliers, J. J., Lamamy, J. A., & Hadler, K. (2020) · Planetary and Space Science · doi:10.1016/j.pss.2020.104879 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Goulas, A., & Friel, R. J. (2016) · Rapid Prototyping Journal · doi:10.1108/rpj-02-2015-0022 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
System analysis of an ISRU production plant: Extraction of metals and oxygen from lunar regolith
Guerrero-Gonzalez, F. J., & Zabel, P. (2023) · Acta Astronautica · doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.11.050 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
A comprehensive review of lunar-based manufacturing and construction
Azami, M., Kazemi, Z., Moazen, S., Dubé, M., Potvin, M.-J., & Skonieczny, K. (2024) · Progress in Aerospace Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.paerosci.2024.101045 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Sanders, G. B., & Larson, W. E. (2012) · Earth and Space 2012 · doi:10.1061/9780784412190.050 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Electrostatic beneficiation of lunar regolith: Applications in in situ resource utilization
Trigwell, S., Captain, J., Weis, K., & Quinn, J. (2013) · Journal of Aerospace Engineering · doi:10.1061/(asce)as.1943-5525.0000226 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Self-citationEvaluation of tribocharged electrostatic beneficiation of lunar simulant in lunar gravity
Quinn, J. W., Captain, J. G., Weis, K., Santiago-Maldonado, E., & Trigwell, S. (2013) · Journal of Aerospace Engineering · doi:10.1061/(asce)as.1943-5525.0000227 · Cited by 35 · see citing works
Self-citationElectrostatic collection of tribocharged lunar dust simulants
Afshar-Mohajer, N., Wu, C.-Y., & Sorloaica-Hickman, N. (2014) · Advanced Powder Technology · doi:10.1016/j.apt.2014.07.010 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Trigwell, S., Captain, J. G., Arens, E. E., Quinn, J. W., & Calle, C. I.
- Affiliations
- Kennedy Space Center (US)
- ORCID
- Calle, Carlos I.
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications
- Published
- 2009
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1060-1067
- ISSN
- 0093-9994 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2143862146
- Cited by
- 40
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications (publishedVersion)
- NASA STI Repository (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Mechanical Engineering › Mineral Processing and Grinding
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Water Science and Technology › Minerals Flotation and Separation Techniques
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Space Exploration and Technology
- Keywords
- triboelectric charging, lunar regolith simulant, lunar regolith, in-situ resource utilization, pyroxene, olivine, feldspar
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
