Highly Efficient, Solid State Hydrogen Purification for Resource Recovery

Long duration manned space exploration requires further closure of the oxygen loop of the life support system than is currently realized aboard the International Space Station. In order to further close the oxygen loop, NASA has been developing an advanced Plasma Pyrolysis (PPA) technology that reduces the waste methane to higher order hydrocarbons in order to better utilize the hydrogen for oxygen recovery. In order for this PPA technology to be feasible, there must be a means to separate the hydrogen from the other compounds for recycle to the Sabatier reactor. Sustainable Innovations' signature electrochemical cell architecture embodied in A Highly Efficient, Solid State Hydrogen Purification System for Resource Recovery (HRR), provides a solution to NASA's search for regenerative separation technology enabling maximum hydrogen recovery from a stream containing water vapor, carbon monoxide (CO), and hydrocarbons including methane, acetylene, ethane, and ethylene, among others. During the Phase II effort, Sustainable Innovations will design and fabricate a full-scale prototype four crew-member (4-CM) unit, optimizing hydrogen utilization, weight and volume, and enabling full integration of the HRR with PPA and Sabatier systems.

The goal of the Hydrogen Resource Recovery (HRR) system is to extract pure hydrogen from the mixed gas effluent of the Plasma Pyrolysis Assembly (PPA) for recycle to the PPA and the Sabatier reactor, thus enabling maximum oxygen recovery from carbon dioxide reduction. Successful improvement of the HRR technology will enable greater closure of the life support oxygen loop via the Plasma Pyrolysis technology. The HRR is enabling technology for any of the proposed carbon dioxide reduction technologies that require hydrogen separation as one of the unit operations. Specific applications include: Life support enhancement on the International Space Station and long duration Mars missions, and ISRU fuel production.

Sustainable Innovations plans to market the HRR technology under the trade name H2Renew

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