Beneficiation of Planetary Regolith by Pneumatically Enhanced Tribocharging of Granular Material

Liberation of oxygen from the mineral ilmenite (FeTiO3), which may be found on the Moon, Mars, or asteroids, is inefficient due to the abundance of other minerals in the excavated regolith that are present but not needed during the chemical processing. Energy for the reduction reaction is in short supply on the lunar, Martian, and asteroid surfaces. The ilmenite should be separated from other minerals to simplify and improve the process efficiency. Lunar and planetary basaltic lavas contain ilmenite, but they consist only of 12 to 20 percent by weight.