A wide variety of trace contaminants are present on board a spacecraft, including hydrocarbons, oxygenates, chlorofluorocarbons, inorganics such as carbon monoxide and catalyst poisons such as hydrogen sulfide. The contaminants are currently controlled by a combination of adsorption on activated carbon and catalytic oxidation of adsorption on activated carbon and catalytic oxidation. If the complete range of compounds could be removed by catalytic oxidation, there would be substantial savings in the cost of maintaining human habitation in space on long duration missions. The primary challenge is not only to develop a catalyst that is more active than current catalysts, but also to develop a catalyst that is both effective against the complete range of compounds and is not poisoned by compounds that contain sulfure or halogens.
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