1060
3, MAY/JUNE 2009
The Use of Tribocharging in the Electrostatic
Beneficiation of Lunar Simulant
Steve Trigwell, James G. Captain, Ellen E. Arens, Jacqueline W. Quinn, and Carlos I. Calle
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 extrac-
tion for in situ resource 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 com-
plex mineralogy of the simulants compared to the simple prepared
mixture.
Index Terms—Beneficiation, lunar simulant, tribocharging,
work function, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).
I. I NTRODUCTION
A NY FUTURE lunar base and habitat must be constructed
from strong dense materials in order to provide for ther-
mal and radiation protection. Lunar soil may meet this need,
and sintering of full-scale bricks has been accomplished using
lunar simulants [1]. Lunar regolith has high concentrations of
aluminum, silicon, calcium, iron, sodium, and titanium oxides.
Refinement or enrichment of specific minerals in the soil
into an industrial feedstock before it is chemically processed
may be more desirable because it would reduce the size and
energy requirements required to produce the virgin material,
Paper MSDAD-08-11, presented at the 2006 ESA/IEEE/IEJ/SFE Joint
Conference on Electrostatics, Berkeley, CA, June 20–23, and approved for
publication in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS by the
Electrostatic Processes Committee of the IEEE Industry Applications Society.
Manuscript submitted for review June 15, 2007 and released for publication
August 7, 2008. Current version published May 20, 2009. This work was
supported by the NASA Kennedy Space Center Spaceport Engineering and
Technology Directorate for Center Director Discretionary Funding.
S. Trigwell and J. G. Captain are with the Applied Science and Technology
Department, ASRC Aerospace (ASRC 24), Kennedy Space Center, FL 32899
USA (e-mail: steven.trigwell-1@nasa.gov; james.g.captain@nasa.gov).
E. E. Arens is with NASA Kennedy Space Center (KD-D-1), FL 32899 USA
(e-mail: ellen.e.arens@nasa.gov).
J. W. Quinn is with NASA Kennedy Space Center (KT-D-3), FL 32899 USA
(e-mail: jacqueline.w.quinn@nasa.gov).
C. I. Calle is with NASA Kennedy Space Center (KT-B-1), FL 32899 USA
(e-mail: carlos.i.calle@nasa.gov).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIA.2009.2018976
0093-9994/$25.00 © 2009 IEEE
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 45, NO.
and it may significantly reduce the process’ complexity. In
addition, shipping oxygen from Earth is weight prohibitive,
and therefore, investigations into the potential production of
breathable oxygen from oxidized mineral components are a
major research initiative by the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). The feasibility of extracting oxygen
from the FeO component by hydrogen reduction in terrestrial
soils has been demonstrated [2], and a number of oxygen
production technologies are being tested [3].
Ilmenite is a mineral of interest on the Moon as a source
of iron, titanium, and oxygen (FeTiO3 ) [2], and therefore,
any method to increase its natural abundance in excavated ore
before processing would be a considerable advantage.
The lunar regolith grains and the lunar environment are ideal
for triboelectrification and electrostatic separation, with the
lack of moisture preventing the grains from sticking together,
the lack of atmospheric gaseous breakdown allowing higher
voltages to be used on the separation plates, and the gravity only
being one-sixth that of Earth that will allow the particles’ longer
charge contact times and time between the plates to enhance the
separation.
Successful separation of ilmenite from a lunar soil simulant
prepared by mixing anorthite, augite, ilmenite, and olivine in
a weight ratio of 4 : 4 : 1 : 1 has been reported in an electro-
static separator in vacuum (10−5 torr) where the refinement
of ilmenite was increased up to 60% after one pass [4], [5].
This was achieved using a sliding-plate separator and a high-
voltage electrode to inductively charge the particles. In this
paper, the goal was to investigate the use of tribocharging
to charge the lunar simulant and the use of a parallel-plate
separator in beneficiation of lunar simulants to determine if
this is a feasible method for enrichment of specific minerals.
Triboelectric separation using a parallel-plate separator of coal
from minerals, quartz from feldspar, phosphate rock from silica
sand, and phosphorus and silica from iron ore has been suc-
cessfully achieved on Earth in both laboratory and pilot-scale
levels [6].
With the method of electrostatic beneficiation described
herein, dust or powder particles are tribocharged by contact
with materials of a different composition. Particles in the dust
are charged with positive or negative polarities, depending
upon their composition relative to the charging material. These
charged particles can then undergo electrostatic separation in
an electric field based upon their charge-to-mass (Q/M ) ratio.
This has been described elsewhere [7], [8]. The efficiency of
separation is dependent upon the dust or powders’ bulk and
surface composition.
TRIGWELL et al.: USE OF TRIBOCHARGING IN THE ELECTROSTATIC BENEFICIATION OF LUNAR SIMULANT
Two production lunar simulants from the NASA Johnson
Space Center were used in this paper, namely, JSC-1 and the
newer JSC-1A. These simulants were developed to replicate
as close as possible the chemistry of lunar soil brought back
from the Apollo missions. They are principally composed of
basalts, containing phases of plagioclase, pyroxene, olivine, and
ilmenite. In addition, a simulant of exact known composition
was developed in house at KSC, named KSC-1, consisting
of a mixture of pure commercially supplied minerals, namely,
pyroxene (LiAlSi2 O6 ), olivine ((Mg, Fe)2 SiO4 ), feldspar
((Na,K,Ca)AlSiO3 O8 : SiO2 ), and ilmenite (FeTiO3 ), in a
4 : 4 : 1 : 1 ratio to reproduce the approximate mean composition
of lunar dust. This simulant was used to test the efficiency of the
beneficiation apparatus.
The actual lunar regolith is a powdery dust with a grain
size ranging from 45 to 800 μm, with most falling between
45 and 100 μm [9], [10]. It has low electrical conductivity and
dielectric losses, permitting the accumulation of electrostatic
charge [9]. Previous studies performed on beneficiation of
pulverized coal by Trigwell [7] had shown that the efficiency of
beneficiation using tribocharging was a factor of particle size,
with low efficiency for the smaller particle sizes (< 50 μm) due
to the larger charge-to-mass (Q/M ) ratio obtained by smaller
particles. This caused problems with the dust strongly adhering
to all surfaces, interfering with the contact charging process.
As part of this paper, the simulants were sieved into a range of
particle sizes to determine the most efficient size range for this
method.
Three different materials were investigated for the triboelec-
trification process, i.e., aluminum, copper, and polytetrafluo-
roethylene (PTFE). These materials were selected because they
offer a wide variation in work functions (aluminum—4.28 eV,
copper—4.65 eV, and PTFE—5.75 eV) [7]. The difference
between the work function of each material and the simulant in-
fluences the charge obtained by the grains. The resulting Q/M
ratio was expected to lead to variations in mineral separation
and allow for optimization of the process.
The first objective of this paper was to determine the vari-
ation of surface chemical composition as a factor of particle
size because this would affect the beneficiation efficiency. The
second objective was to determine the amount and polarity
of the transferred charge imparted by the different materials
to the simulant by measuring the Q/M first in air to show
proof of concept and test the system, and then in vacuum. The
third part of this paper was to perform the beneficiation on
KSC-1, JSC-1, and JSC-1A using the three different material
chargers.
II. E XPERIMENTAL S ETUP
The JSC-1 and JSC-1 A simulants were sieved into different
grain size fractions, namely, > 100, 75–100, 50–75, 50–25, and
< 25 μm (only for JSC-1), and each fraction was analyzed us-
ing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to determine min-
eral surface composition. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
was performed to determine any variation in size distribution
within each size fraction. The objective was to determine if
there was a compositional correlation between different particle
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1061
sizes. The XPS data were obtained on a Kratos XSAM 800
spectrometer at a background pressure of 1 × 10−9 torr, using
a Mg Kα (hυ = 1253.6 eV) X-ray source. The X-ray source
used was run at 150 W power with a beam diameter of 4 mm.
The collected spectra peak positions were referenced to the C1s
peak at 285 ± 0.5 eV. Wide survey scans were collected from
0–1100 eV at a pass energy of 80 eV in 1-eV steps with a 50-ms
dwell time to determine the overall elemental composition. The
relative atomic concentrations of the detected elements were
calculated and normalized to 100% using sensitivity factors
supplied by the instrument manufacturer from known certified
standards. Detection limits for XPS are approximately 0.1–
1.0 at%, depending upon the sensitivity of the elements. The
escape depth of the ejected photoelectrons is on the order of
50–100 Å, and hence, XPS is a very surface-sensitive tech-
nique. It must be emphasized that the area of analysis is
∼16 mm2 , and hence, the information obtained is an average
over this area. SEM images were taken on a Hitachi S3500
microscope using a beam energy of 20 kV at a magnification
of ×100. Samples of each grain size fraction were mounted
using conductive carbon paint and then gold coated to prevent
charging up under the electron beam.
Due to the known strong adhesion of fine powder to surfaces,
preliminary tests were performed to determine the size fraction
to best use in the beneficiation experiments. An aliquot of each
size fraction was placed on a flat sheet of each of Al, Cu,
and PTFE, and the sheet was inclined until the majority of
the dust aliquot slid off. The particle size range and incline
angle at which the sliding occurred for each sheet material
were recorded. It was observed that particles > 50 μm at an
angle > 50◦ provided the best results for all materials, showing
a reproducible > 95% clearing. The worse case of sticking
was observed for the < 25-μm-size range on PTFE where the
entire aliquot of simulant stayed adhered to the sheet, even
when it was raised up to 90◦ . Based on these data, for all
subsequent experiments, the 50–75-μm-size range was chosen
for use. Feldspar, spodumene, olivine, and ilmenite were sieved,
and the 50–75-μm-size ranges were taken and mixed in the
4 : 4 : 1 : 1 ratio to make KSC-1. XPS was then performed on the
mixed KSC-1 to determine surface composition to compare it to
JSC-1 and JSC-1A.
To provide tribocharging under vacuum, cups were machined
from PTFE, Cu, and Al. Each cup had a hole in the bottom
and a fine screen (120 mesh) to support the simulant made
of the same material. The Cu and Al cups were resistively
heated using a nichrome wire wrapped around the cup capable
of heating the cup and contents to 130 ◦ C to remove moisture
from the simulant. Unfortunately, it was not possible to heat the
simulant in the PTFE cup. The heater wire was isolated from
the cup by Kapton tape. A small motor attached to the cup,
isolated by PTFE and a ceramic spacer to prevent the motor
from heating up, vibrated the holding cup, causing the simulant
to fall through the mesh. The cup setup is shown schematically
in Fig. 1. The cup was mounted on top of a solid block of
material (either PTFE, copper, or aluminum), the composition
of which is the same as the cup, in which a channel that is
composed of a “zigzag” series of inclines greater than 50◦ has
been cut out (Fig. 2). The voltage to the vibrating motor can
1062
Fig. 1. Schematic of the shaker cup.
Fig. 2. Al, Cu, and PTFE inclined-plane chargers. They are shown with the
front covers off. The PTFE charger is shown with the heater/shaker cup as set
up in the vacuum chamber.
be varied to control the amount of simulant passing through the
channel. As the simulant slides down the series of inclines in
the channel, it is tribocharged, and the polarity of the charge
depends upon the composition of the sliding block, before
exiting the bottom into either the Faraday pail for Q/M mea-
surements, or the electrostatic separator for mineral separation
(Fig. 2).
For the Q/M measurements, dust was allowed to fall under
gravity through each charger and through a hole in the top of
the Faraday pail. The charge in the Faraday pail was zeroed
and checked for stability before each run. After 15 s, the flow
was stopped, and the charge was measured on a Keithley 6415
electrometer that was connected by coaxial cable to the inside
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 45, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 2009
wall of the Faraday pail with the outer sheath grounded. It was
found that the measured charge on the electrometer steadied
after about 2 s. The inside container of the Faraday pail could
be removed, and the accumulated mass of the collected pow-
der was weighed relative to the preweighed empty container.
The Q/M measurements were first taken in air to test the
equipment and provide a comparison to results on dry dust in
vacuum. Five runs were taken for each sample, and the mean
value was plotted.
The charge separator was constructed of two parallel copper
plates of dimensions 6 × 12 separated by 3 in. The plates
were run at +15 and −15 kV supplied by positive and negative
30-kV Glassman MJ series 15-W regulated dc modules. The
theory and design of this separator have been described else-
where [6], [7]. The dust accumulated on each plate and on the
filter paper in the collection box at the bottom of the plates was
brushed off and collected in separate vials and then analyzed
by XPS. Again, five runes were taken for each material, and the
mean value was recorded.
III. R ESULTS AND D ISCUSSION
A. Surface Chemical Composition Versus Particle Size
SEM images for the five sieved fractions of the JSC-1
simulant are shown in Fig. 3. The images show no debris
or residual smaller particles in the larger sieved fractions,
showing the efficiency of the sieving in sorting the simulant
into clean respective size fractions. However, it can be ob-
served in the larger size fractions > 50 μm [Fig. 3(c)–(e)] that
the particles have very uniform shapes and do not show the
characteristic sharp-glassy-type morphology associated with
real lunar regolith. This had led to the development of more
“realistic” lunar simulants [11] that represent both the chem-
ical and mineralogical compositions as well as the physical
morphology. JSC-1A was introduced as the next step in that
direction. Similar particle shapes were observed in optical
images of the JSC-1A regolith and minerals used to make
up the KSC-1 simulant. This is probably due to the grinding
process used to produce the overall particle size compositions
used.
A typical XPS spectrum from the lunar simulants is shown
in Fig. 4. In this case, this is a spectrum from the JSC-1
50–75-μm size fraction. The peaks are identified as core
photoelectron emissions (e.g., C1s) or by the Auger three
electron process emissions (e.g., C [KLL]). The mean relative
atomic concentrations as determined by the XPS data for all
five size fractions of JSC-1, the four size fractions of JSC-1A,
and the 50–75-μm size fraction of KSC-1, as determined by
XPS, are shown in Table I for comparison. When converted
to weight percent (not shown), the JSC-1 compositions were
very close to that reported for the bulk composition (within
±5%) [12]. Little compositional variation between the sieved
fractions was observed. The 50–75-μm size fraction was
therefore used for the tribocharging experiments, as this is
near the center of the majority of the lunar regolith range
of 45–100-μm and passed the aforementioned adhesion
testing.
TRIGWELL et al.: USE OF TRIBOCHARGING IN THE ELECTROSTATIC BENEFICIATION OF LUNAR SIMULANT 1063

Fig. 3. SEM images of the sieved fractions of the JSC-1 lunar simulant. (a) < 25 μm. (b) 25–50 μm. (c) 50–75 μm. (d) 75–100 μm. (e) > 100 μm.
(×100 magnification).

the JSC-1 simulant. For both media, the simulant charged

Fig. 4. Typical XPS spectrum showing the detected peaks. JSC-1 50–75-μm-
size fraction.
B. Q/M Measurements
Fig. 5 shows the Q/M measurements of the tribocharging
using the inclined-plane chargers in air and in vacuum using
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positively against PTFE, while it charged negatively for the
metals; however, it was clearly observed that the dust in vacuum
acquired a higher magnitude of charge for all chargers. Dry
conditions in vacuum allow higher charge accumulation on
the dust particles due to the lack of any moisture that would
increase the surface conductivity and, hence, charge decay.
The polarity of the charge in air and in vacuum is in direct
correlation between the acquired charge on the dust and the
work function of the charging material. From the graph, the
point on both plots where the Q/M crosses zero can be con-
sidered equal to the work function of the simulant (effectively,
no exchange of charge). This was estimated to be ∼5.4 eV in air
and about 4.8 eV in vacuum. This is lower than that found by
Sternovsky et al. [13], who determined an effective work func-
tion of 5.8 eV for the JSC-1 lunar simulant in the 125–150-μm
range, but similar to that of 5.25 and 5.5 eV determined for
Al2 O3 and SiO2 , respectively [13]. The large variation in
the acquired charge for each material is most likely due to
irregular particle shapes, which allowed charging to occur only
on localized spots. Variation in the acquired charge may also be
caused by the number of contacts that the larger particles have
with the charging material.
1064
TABLE I
JSC-1, JSC-1A, AND KSC-1 LUNAR SIMULANT SURFACE COMPOSITION MEASURED BY XPS (RELATIVE ATOMIC PERCENT)
AS A F UNCTION OF S IEVED S IZE F RACTION
Fig. 5. Acquired charge-to-mass (Q/M ) on the JSC-1 50–75-μm-size
fraction as a function of the work function of the charging material in air and
in vacuum. Al (4.28 eV), Cu (4.65 eV), SS (5.04 eV), and PTFE (5.75 eV).
C. Beneficiation Results
1) KSC-1: Table II shows the XPS beneficiation data for the
KSC-1 simulant as a function of charger material. The data are
presented as the relative changes in the atomic concentration
of the detected elements as referenced to the atomic compo-
sition of the as-received unseparated material for the regolith
collected from the positive plate, the negative plate, and in
the bottom tray of the separator, respectively. The systematic
error and mean of five test runs through the separator showed
the reproducibility of the data to be within 5%. Therefore,
only data showing a variance of above 5% are presented in
the table.
With the focus on ilmenite as the mineral of interest, for the
Al charger, a significant increase in the Ti concentration was
observed on the positive plate with a corresponding decrease on
the negative plate. Similarly, Fe decreased on the negative plate
but with no difference on the positive plate. The opposite was
observed for the Cu charger with a decrease of Ti on the positive
plate and an increase of both Fe and Ti on the negative plate.
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IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 45, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 2009
The PTFE charger showed a similar trend to the Al charger.
Fig. 6 shows that the regolith collected from the positive plate
after the PTFE separation has a much darker hue compared to
that from the negative plate, the bottom tray, and the as-mixed
fractions. This is consistent with the ilmenite fraction that was
the darkest mineral relative to the pyroxene (light gray), olivine
(green white), and feldspar (whitish) used before mixing to
form KSC-1.
2) JSC-1: Table III shows the XPS beneficiation data for the
JSC-1 simulant for the Al charger. The main observation from
these data is the significant increase in the C concentration in all
the separated fractions compared to the original composition.
This complicated the data interpretation as the XPS data are
presented as relative atomic concentrations. However, it was
observed that the Fe concentration was significantly less on the
positive plate relative to the negative plate.
Raman spectroscopy performed on separated size fractions
for JSC-1 [14] showed the presence of ilmenite (FeTiO3 ),
anatase (TiO2 ), magnetite (Fe3 O4 ), hematite (α-Fe2 O3 ),
ferrite (M2+ Fe2 O4 ), olivine ((Mg, Fe)2 SiO4 ), plagioclase
(NaAlSi3 O8 /CaAl2 Si2 O8 ), and pseudobrookite (Fe2 TiO5 ).
From the Raman data in this previous study, the separated frac-
tion on the negative plate showed an increased concentration of
magnetite and pseudobrookite, whereas on the positive plate,
predominantly ferrite was observed. These data suggest that
the higher Fe-containing minerals were charged positive and
were attracted to the negative plate. The significant increase
in the Ca concentration compared to the decrease in the Na
concentration on the negative plate suggests that the plagioclase
was a combination of Na-rich plagioclase albite (NaAlSi3 O8 )
and Ca-rich anorthite (CaAl2 Si2 O8 ) and had charged negatively
and positively, respectively. However, in the XPS data, Ti was
not detected within the detection limits (> 0.1 relative at %),
although it was detected in the 50–75-μm-size fraction before
separation, and confirmed by Raman. This indicates that the
Ti-bearing minerals were of significantly lower concentration in
the surface regions of the simulant grains than the plagioclase
minerals. The Raman data showed that the mineralogy of the
TRIGWELL et al.: USE OF TRIBOCHARGING IN THE ELECTROSTATIC BENEFICIATION OF LUNAR SIMULANT 1065

TABLE II
BENEFICIATION DATA FOR KSC-1 SIMULANT SHOWING RELATIVE COMPOSITION CHANGES COMPARED TO THE ORIGINAL
COMPOSITION OF THE SEPARATED FRACTIONS (−ve PLATE, +ve PLATE, AND BOTTOM TRAY)
FOR THE T HREE D IFFERENT C HARGING M ATERIALS , N AMELY , Al, Cu, AND PTFE

IV. F UTURE W ORK

Fig. 6. Optical image of the as-mixed KSC-1 and collected separated fractions
from the positive plate, the negative plate, and the bottom tray after separation
using the PTFE charger.
Current work is underway on the beneficiation of Apollo 14
14163 lunar regolith. It was also sieved in dry N2 to produce
a 50–75-μm-size fraction. Future work is planned to determine
the separation efficiency using the JSC-1A simulant as a func-
tion of particle size, from < 50- to > 600-μm size fractions.
Modeling of particle trajectories is also currently being per-
formed to determine the optimum parameters (voltage, plate
size and separation distance, and length of the chargers) for
separation in one-sixth gravity. It is predicted that the lower
gravity on the Moon will assist in the separation due to the
longer fall times. Because there is no atmosphere on the Moon,
stronger electric fields can also be used for more efficient
beneficiation. Finally, calculations to scale up to production-
type quantities (in kilograms per hour) are being undertaken.

JSC-1 simulant is complicated, and contains other Fe- and
Ti-bearing minerals, which makes the interpretation of the sep-
aration data based on work-function differences alone complex.
Along with the high concentrations of C detected in JSC-1, at
this point, in the project and time constraints, it was decided
to not continue with this simulant and rather focus on the
newer JSC-1A.
3) JSC-1A: Table IV shows the XPS beneficiation data for
the JSC-1A simulant as a function of charger material. The
first observation was that the separation concentrations were
not as dramatic as that for the KSC-1 simulant. This was to
be expected because the presence and amount of ilmenite in
JSC-1A are not as defined as the individual components used
to make up the KSC-1 simulant. However, there were some
distinct differences in the Fe and Ti concentrations between
the plates for all three chargers above the 5% error that indi-
cated a degree of separation of ilmenite. The most significant
changes are for the Na concentrations for the Cu and PTFE
chargers, which may show the presence of different plagioclase
(albite) phases.
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V. C ONCLUSION
A direct correlation between the work function of the JSC-1
simulant and that of the charging material was established.
From this, a work function of ∼5.4 eV was determined for
the simulant. However, this must be emphasized that this was
determined for the bulk material composition and may vary
between the minerals.
Very little surface compositional difference was observed, as
measured by XPS, for the various size fractions for both JSC-1
and JSC-1A. This allowed for the 50–75-μm size fraction to be
used and represent chemically all size fractions.
The twin-plate separator proved successful in separating
back out a large percentage of ilmenite from the KSC-1 mixed
simulant by charge with full recovery of the material. Some
significant variations in compositions were observed in the sep-
arated fractions of the JSC-1 and JSC-1A simulants; however,
there seems no correlation or consistency in terms of the known
relative work functions of the charging materials and that of
the bulk simulant. However, the mineralogical compositions
of the simulants were significantly more complicated than that
of KSC-1, as shown by previous Raman data, with numerous
1066 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS, VOL. 45, NO. 3, MAY/JUNE 2009

TABLE III
BENEFICIATION DATA FOR JSC-1 SIMULANT SHOWING RELATIVE COMPOSITION CHANGES COMPARED TO THE ORIGINAL COMPOSITION
OF THE S EPARATED F RACTIONS (−ve P LATE , +ve P LATE , AND B OTTOM T RAY ) FOR J UST THE Al C HARGER

TABLE IV
BENEFICIATION DATA FOR JSC-1A SIMULANT SHOWING RELATIVE COMPOSITION CHANGES COMPARED TO THE ORIGINAL
COMPOSITION OF THE SEPARATED FRACTIONS (−ve PLATE, +ve PLATE, AND BOTTOM TRAY)
FOR THE T HREE D IFFERENT C HARGING M ATERIALS , N AMELY , Al, Cu, AND PTFE

other iron phases present. This made the interpretation of the
XPS data extremely difficult.
The preliminary data presented herein indicate that tri-
bocharging lunar simulant, followed by a twin-plate charge
separator, is potentially a viable method for mineral separation
and enrichment of lunar soils.
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[2] R. J. Williams and O. Mullins, “Enhanced production of water from
ilmenite,” in Proc. Lunar Planetary Sci. XIV, 1983, pp. 551–558.
[3] Eagle Engineering, “Conceptual design of a lunar oxygen pilot plant
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[14] J. G. Captain, S. Trigwell, E. E. Arens, J. E. Captain, J. W. Quinn, and
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Steve Trigwell received the B.Sc. degree in physics
from Leicester University, Leicester, U.K., the M.S.
degree in materials engineering from San Jose State
University, San Jose, CA, and the Ph.D. degree in
engineering science from the University of Arkansas,
Little Rock.
He is currently the Manager of the Applied Sci-
ence and Technology Department in the Applied
Technology Directorate of ASRC Aerospace Cor-
poration at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The
Department consists of three emphasis areas; the
Applied Chemistry Laboratory, the Corrosion Laboratory, and the Electrostatics
and Surface Physics Laboratory. His group is currently involved in all areas
of lunar exploration for NASA’s commitment to returning to the Moon. His
current research interests include studying the surface electronic and chemical
properties of Apollo lunar regolith. He is also currently a Graduate Faculty
Member in the Applied Science Department and an Affiliated Scientist with
the Nanotechnology Center, University of Arkansas.
Dr. Trigwell received the NASA Space Flight Awareness Award for recogni-
tion in support of the vision for space exploration in 2007.
TRIGWELL et al.: USE OF TRIBOCHARGING IN THE ELECTROSTATIC BENEFICIATION OF LUNAR SIMULANT 1067

James G. Captain received the B.S. degree in chem- Jacqueline W. Quinn received the B.S. degree in
istry from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in civil engineering from the Georgia Institute of Tech-
2000, and the M.S. degree in chemistry from the nology, Atlanta, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, in 2001. environmental engineering from the University of
From 2002 to 2005, he was an Analytical Chemist Central Florida,Orlando.
doing radiochemical analysis in conjunction with the Since 1989, she has been with the Kennedy Space
Georgia Department of Natural Resources for their Center (KT-D-3), NASA, FL, working first on the
environmental monitoring program in proximity to environmental controls and life support subsystem of
the Savannah River Site. Since 2005, he has been a the shuttle fleet prior to transitioning into research
Research Scientist with the Kennedy Space Center and development. Her current research ranges from
(ASRC-24), FL, working on a variety of environ- environmental cleanup to lunar soil enrichment.
mental and space-related programs. Dr. Quinn received NASA’s Government and Commercial Invention of the
Year, was inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame, and is a Tech
Museum Laureate.

Carlos I. Calle received the M.S. degree in physics

from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, and
the Ph.D. degree in physics from Ohio University,
Athens.
He is currently a Senior Research Scientist at
NASA Kennedy Space Center and is the Founder and
Director of the Electrostatics and Surface Physics
Laboratory. He is currently working on the prob-
lem of electrostatic phenomena of granular and bulk
materials as they apply to planetary surfaces, par-
ticularly those of Mars and the Moon, developing
instrumentation for future planetary exploration missions. He serves as the
Principal Expert Advisor in electrostatic procedures and materials for Space
Shuttle and International Space Station operations at the Kennedy Space
Center. He has developed instrumentation and software funded with grants from
NASA and from the National Science Foundation. In addition to his work on
instrumentation development and electrostatic studies of planetary surfaces, he
Ellen E. Arens received the B.S. degree in physics
has been involved in research work toward the development of a theoretical
from the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne,
model for a microscopic treatment of particle scattering. He also introduced
and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering from
one-particle excitation operators in a separable particle–hole Hamiltonian for
the University of Central Florida, Orlando.
the calculation of particle excitations. He is the author of three science books
Since 2000, she has been an Engineer with the
that have been translated into French, Dutch, Spanish, and Serbian and of Coffee
Kennedy Space Center (KT-D-1), NASA, FL. Her
With Einstein (Duncan Baird, 2008). He has over 150 scientific publications and
background includes electrostatics research, and
is the holder of several pending patents.
her engineering interests include electronics, signal
Dr. Calle received the NASA Spaceflight Awareness Award in 2003 for his
processing, and programming.
outstanding contributions to the space program and the NASA Silver Snoopy
Award in 2007 for his exceptional contributions to human spaceflight.

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