Gem-gum waste dissolution
Gemstone based metamaterials (gem-gum) will often contain a lot of incombustible slag froming elements making conventional incineration like it is possible with plasics not possible. Like silicones burn badly but worse. Silicones still have all side chains plugged by carbon. Gen-gum will often be no carbon at all.
So long possible recycling should be attempted at the component level. If things are no longer needed anywhere anytime soon but still quite intact then atomically precise disassembly could be attempted. More challenging than constructive mechanosynthesis.
If damaged too much for capabilities of atomically precise disassembly only Diamondoid waste incineration or Gem-gum waste dissolution remain the last options to get the lelements back from damaged mechanosphere to biosphere and other natural "spheres".
Method
Just like in a Rock digestion chamber hot acids and lyes will do the job. Liquid metals are an option too.
Specific gemstones may known to be in the waste and may need specific treatment as …
– some are especially resilient and
– some may be amenable to solvents
Sodium or potassium ion beams may help with especially stubborn compounds as
they penetrate deeply and make everything and anything dissolvable.
Energy (in)efficiency
Operating in a gem-gum-tec camber with heat pumps
thermal energy can be recuperated to a good degree
but entropic losses are fundamental.
Related
- Gem-gum waste crisis
- Diamondoid waste incineration
- Recycling
- Rock digestion chamber (& Soil processing)
- Unknown matter claimer
- Mechanosphere
- Atomically precise disassembly
External links
- Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) (lab classic),
(Na is highly abundant and highly accessible via salt in sea water) - Potassium hydroxide (KOH) (lab classic),(K is highly abundant)
- Rubidium hydroxide (RbOH) (Rb is not too abundant)
- Caesium hydroxide (CsOH) (Cs is not too abundant)
- Hydrogen fluoride (HF) (F is nasty to handle)
- Hydrogen chloride (HCl) (lab classic)
- Hydrogen bromide (HBr) (weaker)
- Hydrogen iodide (HI) (weaker)
chalkogen oxoacids
- Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) (lab classic)
- Selenic acid (H2SeO4)
- Telluric acid (Te(OH)6) (weak, Te is extremely rare)
pnictogen oxoacids
- Nitric acid (HNO3) (lab clasic)
- Phosphoric acid (H3PO4) (weaker)
- Arsenic acid (H3AsO4) (weaker)
- Sb antimonic acid? Bi bismuth acid? (borderline acids?)
- Side-note: Salts of oxoacids