Advanced Supported Liquid Membranes for CO2 Control in EVA Applications

The development of new, robust, lightweight systems for CO2 removal during EVA is a crucial need for NASA. With current and anticipated space activities, mission times will need to be extended without increasing the size and weight of the portable life support system (PLSS). While much of the recent work on the development of new CO2 control strategies has centered on solid sorbents that can be regenerated during the mission, these system add "on back" hardware, increasing weight and complexity, and reducing reliability. A simpler approach is to use a membrane system to separate CO2 from the O2 environment. Unfortunately, separating gas phase molecules with the needed selectivity is difficult with standard membranes. However, identifying a low vapor pressure liquid sorbent that will react with CO2 to form a meta stable product, could facilitate the needed separation. Therefore in this Phase I project, Reaction Systems will develop a supported liquid membrane that will have high permeance and selectivity for CO2 compared to O2, advancing the TRL from 1 to 4 by the end of the Phase I. In Phase II we will design and construct a full scale prototype, which will be delivered it to NASA.

In addition to the wide spread use for NASA applications, identifying effective means to reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion is an area that is receiving much attention. The wide spread use of fossil fuels has caused a substantial rise in the concentration of atmospheric CO2, a recognized green house gas and further increases in atmospheric CO2 are not desirable. Thus, there currently is a great deal of interest in the development of methods to sequester CO2 from combustion processes. Other commercial applications would include the control of CO2 in underwater vehicles and other enclosed spaces and the development of rebreathers for SCUBA gear.

The most immediate application of the technology being proposed herein is the control of CO2 levels in the space suits of astronauts during EVA. This is a critical need as NASA mission objectives include creating lunar outposts, with the eventual goal of exploring Mars. In addition, with only slight modification, the technology could be applied to CO2 control in spacecraft and on the surface of Mars.

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 4) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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