This content is not included in
your SAE MOBILUS subscription, or you are not logged in.
Concurrent CO 2 Control and O 2 Generation for Space Suits and Other Advanced Life Support: A Feasibility Study
Technical Paper
2007-01-3247
ISSN: 0148-7191, e-ISSN: 2688-3627
Annotation ability available
Sector:
Language:
English
Abstract
The partial electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) using ceramic oxygen generators (COGs) is well known and widely studied. Conventional COGs use yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolytes and operate at temperatures greater than 700 °C. Operating at a lower temperature has the advantage of reducing the mass of the ancillary components such as insulation and heat exchangers (to reduce the COG oxygen output temperature for comfortable inhalation). Moreover, complete reduction of metabolically produced CO2 (into carbon and oxygen) has the potential of reducing oxygen storage weight if the oxygen can be recovered.
Recently, the University of Florida developed novel ceramic oxygen generators employing a bilayer electrolyte of gadolinia-doped ceria and erbia-stabilized bismuth oxide (ESB) for NASA's future exploration of Mars. To reduce landed mass and operation expenditures during the mission, in-situ resource utilization was proposed using these COGs to obtain both life-supporting oxygen and oxidant/propellant fuel, by converting CO2 from the Mars atmosphere. The results showed that oxygen could be reliably produced from CO2 at temperatures as low as 400 °C. These results indicate that this technology could be adapted to CO2 removal from a spacesuit and other applications in which CO2 removal was an issue.
The strategy for CO2 removal in advanced life support systems employs a catalytic layer combined with a COG so that it is reduced all the way to solid carbon and oxygen. Hence, a three-phased approach was used for the development of a viable low weight COG for CO2 removal. First, to reduce the COG operating temperature a high oxide ion conductivity electrolyte was developed. Second, to promote full CO2 reduction while avoiding the problem of carbon deposition on the COG cathode, a removable catalytic carbon deposition layer was designed. Third, to improve efficiency, a pre-stage for CO2 absorption was proposed to concentrate CO2 from the exhalate before sending it to the COG. These subsystems were then integrated into a single CO2 removal system. This paper describes the progress to date on these tasks.
Recommended Content
| Technical Paper | Compact High-Efficiency Blower Fan for HVAC |
| Technical Paper | Ventilation Transport Trade Study for Future Space Suit Life Support Systems |
| Technical Paper | On Handling Waste Heat from Waste Heat Recovery Systems in Heavy-Duty Vehicles |
Authors
Citation
Duncan, K., Hagelin-Weaver, H., Bishop, S., Neal, L. et al., "Concurrent CO2 Control and O2 Generation for Space Suits and Other Advanced Life Support: A Feasibility Study," SAE Technical Paper 2007-01-3247, 2007, https://doi.org/10.4271/2007-01-3247.Also In
References
- Park J-Y. Wachsman E. D. J. Electrochem. Soc . 152 ( 2005
- Wachsman E. D. Electrolytic Reduction of CO 2 to O 2 and CO for ISRU with High Conductivity Solid Oxide Electrolytes NASA Report Contract # NAG 10-303 2003
- Sridhar K. R. Vaniman B. T. Solid State Ionics 93 1997
- Imanaka N. Kawikawa M. Tamura S. Adachi G. Solid State Ionics 133 ( 2000
- Wachsman E. D. Method and Apparatus for Treating Nitrogen Oxide-Containing Gas Streams Using a Combined Electrochemical Sorbent Approach United State Patent No. 5,456,807 1995
- Wachsman E. D. Azad A. M. “Miniature Low-Power Integrated CO/ CO 2 / O 2 Sensor for ISRU Control and Verification” NASA Report Contract # NAG10-0274 (2000) and “Solid State Potentiometric CO Sensor”, NASA Tech Briefs 2001
- Trimm D. L. Catal. Today 49 1999
- Machocki A. Appl. Catal . 70 1991
- Bouarab R. Akdim O. Auroux A. Cherifi O. Mirodatos C. Appl. Catal. A 264 2004
- Chen X. J. Liu Q. L. Khor K. A. Chan. S. H. J. Power Sources 2007
- Tao S. Irvine J.T.S. J. Electrochem. Soc ., 151 2004
- Esposito V. Luong B. H. Bartolomeo E. D. Wachsman E.D. Traversa E. J. Electrochem. Soc ., 153 2006
- Jaiswal A. Wachsman E. D. J. Electrochem. Soc ., 152 2005
- Zhang T.S. Ma J. Kong L.B. Chan S.H. Hing P. Kilner J.A. Solid State Ionics , 167 2004
- Jung S. W. Lu C. He H. P. Ahn K. Y. Gorte R. J. Vohs J.M. J. Power Sources , 154 2006