Raw materials
Potential feedstock materials for gem-gum factories.
Insteal of a macroscopic volume of liquid cartridges could contain them micropackaged into microcapsules.
This would change their risk profile regarding the expectable likelihood of and expectable damage level causes by eventual spills.
Microcapsules would also be a natural way to transport these resources via a global microcomponent redistribution system that is primarily meant for the recycing of microcomponents.
Contents
Special cases
- Acetylene – of particular interest due to it's low hydrogen content.
- Methane – a bit much hydrogen. This will mostly be burned to water.
- Ethanol – big molecule – lots of disassembly needed.
- Carbon Disulfide CS2 – not environment friendly – water free solvent
Volatile elements right from the air
- Carbon dioxide CO2 – as a source for carbon (energy devoid)
- Nitrogen N2 – (energy devoid)
- Oxygen O2
- Water H2O – as source for hydrogen (energy devoid)
- Argon – not really a building material but super abundant useful for stabilizing structures by pressurization.
Mundane nontoxic salts
- Salts of silicic acid – silicates don't like to be in solution - only with sodium or potassium this works halfway decent (sodium and potassium salts don't like to be unsoluble)
- Salts of phosphoric acid – phosporic acid is quite mundane (is uses in food) – many other phosphor compounds can be quite toxic
- Salts of sulphuric acid – mundane
- Table Salt NaCl
The alkali elements in there (Na,K) that are just added to keep the solution PH neutral (not acidic) are less useful for structural materials. They do not like to form strong directed covalent bonds as they are needed in strong structural high performance materials. So they may remain largely unused. Remnant lye (NaOH, KOH) can be neutralized with actively collected atmospheric CO2.
More toxic salts
- Salts of boric acid
- Sodium aluminates – There is no aluminic acid – just as slilicon aluminium hates to go into solution
Other mundane small molecules that could serve as resource carrieres
- Urea – highly inert and nontoxic nitrogen carrier
- Dimethyl sulfide – sulfur carrier – strong smell (smell of the sea in low doses)
