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Advanced life support for space exploration: Air revitalization using amine coated single wall carbon nanotubes.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Padraig Moloney
Affiliation:
NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 Nasa Parkway, Houston TX
Chad Huffman
Affiliation:
GBTech Inc. 2200 Space Park Dr Suite 400 Houston, TX 77058
Olga Gorelik
Affiliation:
GBTech Inc. 2200 Space Park Dr Suite 400 Houston, TX 77058
Pasha Nikolaev
Affiliation:
GBTech Inc. 2200 Space Park Dr Suite 400 Houston, TX 77058
Sivaram Arepalli
Affiliation:
GBTech Inc. 2200 Space Park Dr Suite 400 Houston, TX 77058
Ramakumar Allada
Affiliation:
National Research Council / NASA Johnson Space Center
Micah Springer
Affiliation:
NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 Nasa Parkway, Houston TX
Leonard Yowell
Affiliation:
NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 Nasa Parkway, Houston TX
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Abstract

The challenges posed by long duration human space flight have made regenerable air revitalization a critical technology. Current systems using disposable lithium hydroxide do not address the difficulties presented by long duration missions. Solid amine systems offer the capability to regeneratively adsorb CO2 using an amine—impregnated porous substrate. Desorption of CO2 is then achieved by exposing the system to vacuum or by increasing temperature. However, thermal inefficiencies and system size constraints prevent adoption of regenerable systems on current and future space vehicles. A key challenge is the thermal management of the adsorbing bed. The adsorbing surface increases in temperature which reduces adsorbing efficiency. The removal of CO2 reduces temperature, which in turn produces a loss in regeneration efficiency. These thermal inefficiencies necessitate prohibitively large volumes of traditional solid-amine materials, which do not have optimized surface areas and pore distributions. Single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) may provide a means to increase surface area of the amine support and thermal efficiency. Recent work by Cinke et. al. provided a method of functionalizing SWCNTs and increasing the surface area to the order of 1500 m2/g [1]. We will report on the production of free standing, high surface area carbon nanotube structures currently being impregnated with amines. This novel SWCNT/amine approach will be compared with the current state of the art polymer structure-based system and characterized using SEM, TEM, surface area analysis through Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), and also thermogravimetric equilibrium absorption. Results of SWCNT material improvements from processing modifications will also be presented.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2005

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References

REFERENCES

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