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Making oxygen
制造氧氣
Magnetic moment
磁矩
A new approach may make oxygen-manufacturing much cheaper
一種新方法可能會使制造氧氣成本更低
Oxygen is vital. Literally so for breathing, and thus for many hospital patients. And metaphorically for industries ranging from steelmaking to pharmaceuticals, which use it in their processes. The world market for the gas is therefore large. Various estimates put it as having been between about $28bn and $49bn in 2019.
氧氣至關重要，最直接的就是對呼吸至關重要，所以對醫(yī)院的病人也至關重要。就像，從鋼鐵業(yè)到制藥業(yè)，這些行業(yè)在其生產(chǎn)過程中都要使用氧氣。因此氧氣的世界市場很大。各種估計認為，2019年這一數(shù)字在280億至490億美元之間。
It could, though, be larger. In a set of reactions that also involve oxygen and steam, fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas can be turned into hydrogen, a source of energy, and carbon dioxide, which can be separated and sequestered underground. That might allow their continued employment in a world of restricted greenhouse-gas emissions. It would, however, require a cheap and abundant supply of oxygen. Which is why America's Department of Energy is sponsoring a project intended to pull oxygen from the atmosphere with magnets.
不過，它可以更大。在一系列也涉及氧氣和蒸汽的反應中，煤炭和天然氣等化石燃料可以轉(zhuǎn)化為氫(一種能源)和二氧化碳(可以分離并封存在地下)。這可能會讓它們在一個溫室氣體排放受限的世界里繼續(xù)就業(yè)。不過，它需要廉價而充足的氧氣供應，這就是為什么美國能源部贊助了一個旨在用磁鐵從大氣中提取氧氣的項目。
Dry air is a mixture of 21% oxygen, 78% nitrogen and 1% argon, with a few other trace gases such as carbon dioxide. At the moment, most of the world's pure oxygen is made by the liquefaction and subsequent distillation of air, to separate it into its components. This is done in large factories. The other source of oxygen, somewhat less pure, is small, mobile plants called oxygen concentrators. These either absorb the nitrogen into a porous substance called a zeolite, leaving behind a gas that is 90% oxygen, or force air through membranes more permeable to one gas than the other, yielding a somewhat less rich mixture. The alternative of magnetic separation is the brainchild of John Vetrovec, boss of Aqwest, a technology firm in Larkspur, Colorado.
干燥的空氣是21%的氧氣、78%的氮氣和1%的氬氣的混合物，還有一些其他的微量氣體，如二氧化碳。目前，世界上大部分的純氧都是通過空氣的液化和之后的蒸餾得到的，并將其分解成各種成分。這一過程是在大工廠里完成的。另一種純度稍低的氧氣來源于一種小型的、可移動的氧氣濃縮器。它們要么將氮氣吸收成一種叫做沸石的多孔物質(zhì)，留下一種含90%氧氣的氣體，要么迫使空氣穿過一種一種氣體比另一種氣體更容易滲透的薄膜，從而產(chǎn)生一種含量稍低的混合物。另一種磁力分離方法是由科羅拉多州拉克斯波市的一家技術公司Aqwest的老板約翰·維特威克想出來的。
Though oxygen cannot be magnetised permanently in the way that elements like iron can, it is attracted by magnetic fields. As a consequence, when air is pumped through such a field its oxygen gets concentrated in those places where the field is strongest. This concentration-enhancement is small. But if the oxygen-enriched part of the air stream could be separated from the oxygen-impoverished part, and then treated in the same way over and over again, it could be enriched to the point where it was pure enough to be useful. Dr Vetrovec thinks he knows how to do this.
氧氣雖然不能像鐵那樣被永久磁化，但它還是會被磁場吸引。結(jié)果就是，當空氣被吸過這樣一個場時，當中的氧氣就會集中在這個場最強的地方。這種濃度增強作用很小。但是，如果能將氣流中富氧部分與貧氧部分分離開來，然后以同樣的方式反復處理，氧氣就可以濃縮到足夠純的程度，從而發(fā)揮作用。維特威克博士認為自己知道如何做到這一點。
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