Direct Liquid Contact - Next Generation Approach to Combined CO_2 Recovery and Humidity Control for Extended Missions

摘要

The next generation environmental control and life support (ECLS) system may be an integrated approach to closed-loop carbon dioxide, humidity and trace contamination removal. This direct liquid contact approach is based on the highly reliable and efficient submarine carbon dioxide scrubber and includes a centrifugal separator to ensure gravity independence. However, unlike the submarine system which uses a toxic sorbent to remove carbon dioxide, the proposed space system would use ionic liquids - a safe, high performance liquid absorbent - to remove carbon dioxide, humidity, and various trace contaminants from the spacecraft atmosphere. Research on the proposed approach shows promising results, such as high CO_2 removal performance in the presence of water, low estimated size, weight and power, and complete regeneration without the use of space vacuum or high temperatures.