An Experimental Study of the Bosch and the Sabatier CO ₂ Reduction Processes

One of the important feature in the Environment Control and Life Support System required to support long duration mission at the Space Station is an oxygen supply for the human metabolism. The recovery of oxygen from the concentrated carbon dioxide through chemical methods will give significant advantage to the Space Station by reducing the supply requirement of the consumables, such as oxygen bottles.

Oxygen recovery plants using the Bosch reaction and the Sabatier reaction are experimentally developed and tested. The Bosch reaction has been considered to produce carbon and water directly from carbon dioxide by the hydrogenization process. But it seems to proceed through two steps with carbon monoxide as the intermediate product. Also the total production rate is relatively low and the carbon deposited is less solid. The Sabatier reaction requires two steps to achieve carbon and water, with methane as the intermediate product. The second step of the process, known as the methane cracking process, requires a high temperature, yet results in high productivity and dense carbon deposition. A good possibility for providing an oxygen recovery system is expected in the Sabatier reactor.