Colonies in Space
T.A. Heppenheimer
1977; 244 pp. $12.95 postpaid
from
Stackpole Books
Harrisburg, PA. 17105 or Whole Earth
Suppose we want to get a ton of aluminum. The "recipe" would be:
"Take ten tons of anorthosite. Melt in a solar furnace at 3200 degrees.
Add water and quench the melt to give a glassy solid.
Allow to settle in a centrifuge; pipe off the steam from the quenching
to a radiator to condense it to water. Remove the glassy
material from the centrifuge, grind fine, and mix with sulfuric acid.
Pipe to another centrifuge to separate off the
aluminum-bearing liquid which has resulted. Mix with sodium sulfate
and heat to 400 degrees; pipe to still another centrifuge to
allow the resulting sodium aluminum sulfate to settle. Remove it after
it has settled, and bake at 1470 degrees to produce a
mixture of alumina and sodium sulfate; wash out the latter with water.
Mix the alumina with carbon, and react the mixture with
chlorine This gives aluminum chloride. Put the aluminum chloride through
electrolysis. Result: one ton of molten aluminum."