Development Status of Regenerable Solid Amine CO ₂ Control Systems

Recent development of the solid amine/water desorbed (SAWD) CO₂ control system technology has resulted in two preprototype systems. The SAWD I system was developed under NASA Contract NAS9-13624 and is currently under test in the NASA Johnson Space Center, Crew Systems Division Advanced Environmental Control Systems (ECS) Laboratory. The SAWD II system is being developed at Hamilton Standard Division of United Technologies (HSD) under NASA Contract NAS9-16978.

This paper reviews the development history of solid amine CO₂ control systems and describes the SAWD I and SAWD II systems. In the development of the SAWD II system, special attention was given to reducing its power requirements and to designing the system to be compatible with zero-gravity operation. Energy saving features are discussed, and the zero-gravity solid amine canister test program and selected design are described.