Subcritical Water Extractor

Potential customers: Future Mars organics and life search missions such as:

-  Icebreaker -  Ice Dragon on Mars

Subcritical Water EXtractor (SWEX) For Life Search Instrument Suite Point of contact: Carol Stoker (SST), email [email protected] , phone 650 604 6490

Lowers cost, increases reliability, good science, integrates sample handling & extraction processes.

MAIN ACHIEVEMENT: We build a breadboard flight organics extraction

processor using subcritical water and test for species of organics extracted for different extractor operating temperatures.

HOW IT WORKS: Water is heated under pressure (20 MPa), modifying itʼs

dielectric constants, thus changing organic solvent characteristics.#

The the subcritical water is passed through the sample at different temperatures, extracting organic species as a function of the temperature #

The extracted material is provided to the detector suite. #

Problem: Lack of a well tested Mars mission sample extraction processing system integrated with the sample handling.

Current solution: Current Mars organic analyzers have own sample extraction processors that have had problems as shown in the Phoenix mission.

Proposed solution: We build a single extraction processor, integrated with the sample handling system providing for a suite of organic and biological analyzers.

Starting TRL:2:

Deliverables: Design element fidelity sufficient for cost modeling

Start-end TRL:Start 2 End 3 Total Budget/Sched: 50K/12 mo Team: Carol Stoker (SST): Organization,

planetary protection David Willson (ARC/KISS): Engineering Richard Quinn (ARC/SETI): Chemistry Arwen Dave (ARC/Lockheed): Sample

handling Follow-on work:

Develop flight prototype

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Innovation: We use subcritical water extraction of organic species over different temperatures to provide a range of organics for different detection instruments from the same sample.

Our Role: We integrate our sample handling capability to the proposed generic organic extractor facilitated by our organics detection understanding.

The significance: (1)  Lower Costs and greater reliability:

Designing and testing 1 generic extraction processor saves cost and improves on reliability.

(2)  Good science: The extractor provides an identical and characterized extraction from the same sample to all instruments providing a different science perspective of the same sample.

(3)  Integration of sample handling and extraction process: Sample handling and extraction is integrated and tested separate from detection. #

Subcritical Water Organics Extractor for Organic Analyzer Instruments 09 Oct 2012, ARCTEK Presentation.

Objective:

We develop a prototype organics extractor to supply a suite of instruments using subcritical water as a solvent that: - Receives scooped or drilled surface samples from a range of materials ie soils, ice etc - extracts a range of potential organic molecules using subcritical water - delivers an identical characterized extract product to downstream detectors

(1) Principle Investigator NASA Ames , (2) NASA Ames/KISS Institute of practical robotics (3) NASA Ames/SETI Institute, (4) NASA Ames/Lockheed Martin

C.R Stoker1, D Willson2, R.C. Quinn3, A.I. Dave4

Advantage for NASA Ames: (1)   Good Science: Provides an identical characterized extraction from the sample to a suite of

organics and biogenic organic detectors. (2)   An Integrated sample handling & extraction system: Provide an integrated sample handling

package of drill, a robot sample transfer arm and an organic extraction instrument. (3)   Lower Costs and greater reliability: Designing and testing 1 generic extraction processor saves

cost and focuses on reliability.

Left: Icebreaker drilling for life on Mars

Method: The Science of Subcritical Water Extraction

Why an extraction process? Separate and concentrate the target species prior to delivery to analyzers. Lowers complexity of analyzers which otherwise have to incorporate this function Why Subcritical water? We can separate organic species as a function of subcritical water temperature and pressure Other methods require many organic solvents for the same extraction. We aim to affirm: What organics are extracted over the subcritical temperature range.

Subcritical water temperature range @ 20 MPapressure

Above: Water phase diagram

Above: Organics extraction – water dielectric constant – temperature @ 20 MPa1  

(1)  Amashukeli  X.,  Pelle3er  C.C.,  Kirby  J.P.,1  and  Grunthaner  F.J.  2007,  Subcri3cal  water  extrac3on  of  amino  acids  from  Atacama  Desert  soils,  Journal  of  geophysical  research,  vol.  112,  G04S16

What is Subcritical water? Table of organic species extraction temperatures (derived from (1))

Hetrocycles

Carbohydrates

Amino acids & peptides

Lipids

Polynulear Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs)

35°C 325°C 85°C 145°C 185°C 225°C 275°C 25°C

Decreasing dielectric constant

Method: The Generic Subcritical Water Extractor Process DIRT to DATA sample handling (top) and extraction (below) process flow diagrams.

Left: Sample handing to extractor process flow diagram

Below: Organic extraction process flow diagram & Detection

Our ultimate aim is to develop an extractor plant for future flight mission

Applications

-  Any mission that has organic detection as an objective

-  By solving the sample handling problem in a system, we relieve many other candidate instruments of also having to develop their own independent sample handling hardware.

-  The Icebreaker life search mission, a mission concept for Discovery does organic analysis and biomarker detection on extracted product. This concept would simplify sample handling for the Icebreaker instruments

Above: Icebreaker Life detection mission