(618g) Tvsa Cycle for Metabolic CO2 Removal from Spacecraft Cabins Using a Structured Adsorbent: Bench Scale Parametric Study

The objective of this work project is to carry out a parametric study of a temperature vacuum swing adsorption (TVSA) process that utilizes an IntraMicron (IM) structured to determine if more energetically favorable conditions could be used to remove metabolic CO₂ from spacecraft cabin air. The IM adsorbent consists of a copper microfibrous media with entrapped ground and sieved 13X adsorbent particles. This study is being carried out experimentally using the a single-bed apparatus that mimics all the steps of the two-bed TVSA cycle.

This extensive bench scale experimental study is being carried out around the base case separation that meets or exceeds the required CO₂ removal rate for four astronauts. This removal rate is 1 kg of CO₂ per day per astronaut. This corresponds to processing a feed steam containing 2,700 ppm of CO₂ and removing 68.5 % of this CO₂. The effects of the feed flow rate, air save time, regeneration temperature and low vacuum pressure on the process performance are being investigated. The latest results of this project will be presented.