Diamondoid waste incineration

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This article defines a novel term (that is hopefully sensibly chosen). The term is introduced to make a concept more concrete and understand its interrelationship with other topics related to atomically precise manufacturing. For details go to the page: Neologism.

Ultimately damaged diamondoid AP products (microcomponents or macro sized parts) beyond the poit where they can be recycled often do hardly decay by themselves. If badly designed they may even release DME - splinters in the environment so they need to be burnt or disintegrated to reusable or harmless substances in an other way. Conventional furnaces will probably suffice but AP manufactured combustion cells for microcomponents or makro objects are desirable nontheless. They may be able to better filter combustion fumes and also better solve other issues. - Reseach needed.

For now a list of potential diamondoid refractory materials can be found at the "consistent design for external limiting factors" page.

Slacks

The oxides of the elements C,H,O,N,S are all gasses thus if the product to dispose of contains only those elements it can be completely burned to gasses. If other elements are included burning will produce an amorphous glassy slack which may be very hard to recycle.

On the positive side products that form large amounts of slack have the tendency to self quench large fires. (See: Design of crystolecules)

Maybe possible ways to regain molecular feed-stocks from slack

Hydrogenation

Heating parts up in a hot and dense hydrogen atmosphere might be usable to extend the list of elements that can be reverted to easy to process resource gasses. e.g. Silicon -> Silane.

Making soluble with sodium

Melting sodium into low melting slacks or shooting sodium ions into refractory waste might do the trick since sodium compounds have a tendency to be water soluble - silicon and aluminum can be solvated that way. (this method should also be usable for dissolving hard rock in underground working - sodium silicate is actually used as drilling fluid today)

  • Na4O4Si sodium orthosilicate - molecular non polymeric from - few data available - (wikipedia (de))
  • Na2SiO3 sodium silicate (wikipedia) - chain polymeric form
  • NaXAlYOZ sodium aluminates (wikipedia (de)) - also used for removing transition metal salts from water

Microcomponents

  • Microcomponents are a lot easier to burn since their large surface area in relation to their volume.
  • Also its easier too keep them free of elements that produce oxidic slacks. If documented they can be seperated regarding their composition and disposed of seperately such that elements do not mix too much.
  • Microcomponents could maybe be put into a beam of ionized oxygen such that walls can be magnetically protected.

Chlorine

Chlorine is an interesting case. When burning organochlorides (or diamondchlorides with similar elemental composition) usually toxic combustion byproducts are produced.

Although Chlorine is an abundant element (huge amounts in the sea) and it can form sturdy bonds to carbon molecular biology almost doesn't make use of it in biomolecules but instead only uses it as ions (it is an essential element). [Todo: find out why] Only very few natural occuring organochlorides (wikipedia) are known that occur in notable quantities (examples: bipyrrol Q1, chlormethane).

Further topics