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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2016

Development of Carbon Dioxide Removal Systems for Advanced Exploration Systems 2015-2016

A long-term goal for NASA is to enable crewed missions to Mars: first to the vicinity of Mars, and then to the Mars surface. These missions present new challenges for all aspects of spacecraft design in comparison with the International Space Station, as resupply is unavailable in the transit phase, and early return is not possible. Additionally, mass, power, and volume must be minimized for all phases to reduce propulsion needs. Mass reduction is particularly crucial for Mars surface landing and liftoff due to the challenges inherent in these operations for even much smaller payloads. In this paper we describe current and planned developments in the area of carbon dioxide removal to support future crewed Mars missions. Activities are also described that apply to both the resolution of anomalies observed in the ISS CDRA and the design of life support systems for future missions.

Knox, James↗
DOE OSTI2023

Editorial: Harmonizing life cycle analysis (LCA) and techno-economic analysis (TEA) guidelines: a common framework for consistent conduct and transparent reporting of carbon dioxide removal and CCU technology appraisal

Stabilizing the climate will require significant efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions, manage emissions that cannot be avoided, and remove as many legacy emissions as possible [i.e., carbon dioxide (International Energy Agency, 2020; Author Collective, 2022)]. In that context, negative emissions technologies will take CO 2 from the air (Direct Air Capture) or the water (Direct Ocean Capture) and permanently remove it (Roger et al., 2021) either by sequestering the CO 2 underground or converting it to so-called Track 1 materials (Sick et al., 2021) that have lifetimes of >100 years. Shorter-lived products that decompose back into CO 2 in <100 years are categorized as Track 2 materials and will at best be carbon neutral. A carbon neutral status can also be achieved if captured CO 2 from fossil-based point sources is sequestered or used to create Track 1 materials. Conversion of CO 2 from fossil-based sources to any Track 2 material and subsequent decomposition would add new fossil-based carbon to the atmosphere, constituting an ultimately undesirable process. The overall carbon footprint of a process or product will depend on many factors associated with the carbon production, use, and disposal phases.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Guanidine compounds for carbon dioxide capture

A method for removing carbon dioxide from a gaseous source, the method comprising: (i) contacting said gaseous source with an aqueous solution of a carbon dioxide sorbent that reacts with carbon dioxide to form an aqueous-soluble carbonate or bicarbonate salt of said carbon dioxide sorbent; (ii) contacting the aqueous solution from step (i) with a bis-iminoguanidine carbon dioxide complexing compound, which is different from the carbon dioxide sorbent, to result in precipitation of a carbonate or bicarbonate salt of said carbon dioxide complexing compound and regeneration of the carbon dioxide sorbent; and (iii) removing the precipitated carbonate or bicarbonate salt from the aqueous solution in step (ii) to result in a solid form of said carbonate or bicarbonate salt of the carbon dioxide complexing compound. The method may further include a step (iv) of regenerating the carbon dioxide complexing compound by subjecting the precipitated salt to sufficient heat and/or vacuum.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2022

Alkaline cation enrichment and water electrolysis to provide CO 2 mineralization and global-scale carbon management

Provided herein are methods of removing carbon dioxide from an aqueous stream or gaseous stream by: contacting the gaseous stream comprising carbon dioxide, when present, with an aqueous solution comprising ions capable of forming an insoluble carbonate salt; contacting the aqueous solution comprising carbon dioxide with an electroactive mesh that induces its alkalinization thereby forcing the precipitation of a carbonate solid from the solution and thereby the removal of dissolved inorganic carbon by electrolysis; and removing the precipitated carbonate solids from the solution, or the surface of the mesh where they may deposit. Also provided herein are flow-through electrolytic reactors comprising an intake device in fluid connection with a rotating cylinder comprising an electroactive mesh, and a scraping device and/or liquid-spray based device for separating a solid from the mesh surface.

Sant, Gaurav↗
NASA NTRS2012

Development of Carbon Dioxide Removal Systems for Advanced Exploration Systems

"NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) program is pioneering new approaches for rapidly developing prototype systems, demonstrating key capabilities, and validating operational concepts for future human missions beyond Earth orbit" (NASA 2012). These forays beyond the confines of earth's gravity will place unprecedented demands on launch systems. They must not only blast out of earth's gravity well as during the Apollo moon missions, but also launch the supplies needed to sustain a crew over longer periods for exploration missions beyond earth's moon. Thus all spacecraft systems, including those for the separation of metabolic carbon dioxide and water from a crewed vehicle, must be minimized with respect to mass, power, and volume. Emphasis is also placed on system robustness both to minimize replacement parts and ensure crew safety when a quick return to earth is not possible. Current efforts are focused on improving the current state-of-the-art systems utilizing fixed beds of sorbent pellets by seeking more robust pelletized sorbents, evaluating structured sorbents, and examining alternate bed configurations to improve system efficiency and reliability. These development efforts combine testing of sub-scale systems and multi-physics computer simulations to evaluate candidate approaches, select the best performing options, and optimize the configuration of the selected approach, which is then implemented in a full-scale integrated atmosphere revitalization test. This paper describes the carbon dioxide (CO2) removal hardware design and sorbent screening and characterization effort in support of the Atmosphere Resource Recovery and Environmental Monitoring (ARREM) project within the AES program. A companion paper discusses development of atmosphere revitalization models and simulations for this project.

Knox, James C.↗
NASA NTRS2024

Xplo-SA9T: Optimization of Sorbent Technology With Existing and New Amine Variants for Carbon Dioxide Removal and Humidity Control

Scrubbing of the spacesuit air stream to control humidity and regulate carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) relies on amine-loaded resins, colloquially known as sorbents. The efficacy of Rapid Cycle Amine technology relies on the propensity of nitrogens toward adsorption of CO 2 while simultaneously offering regenerative properties under vacuum or positive pressure. The commonly utilized sorbent, SA9T, was recreated and evaluated further to increase stability and serve as a benchmark comparison for newly synthesized amine sorbent technologies. Ongoing storage studies with eight different environments will allow the development of applicable storage protocols and provide insight into possible ammonia generation pathways. Attempts to alleviate the known issues with SA9T included the alteration of the primary amine (tetraethylenepentamine), the choice of resin, and the particle size distribution. In-house CO 2 breakthrough experiments were conducted using a specialized apparatus that can simulate spacesuit conditions, offering high-quality triplicate capacity analysis affording direct comparison to known adsorbents in the literature. Thermo-Desorption Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry studies on the synthesized materials revealed any reagent or solvent offgassing while Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy tracked the stability of the bound amine. Scanning Electron Microscope images of sieved materials provided a more accurate size interpretation facilitating synthetic design and pressure drop elimination. All efficient sorbents were synthesized to a commercial batch scale subsequent to evaluation including Xplo-SA9T.

John R Tidwell↗
NASA NTRS1976

One-man electrochemical air revitalization system evaluation

A program to evaluate the performance of a one man capacity, self contained electrochemical air revitalization system was successfully completed. The technology readiness of this concept was demonstrated by characterizing the performance of this one man system over wide ranges in cabin atmospheric conditions. The electrochemical air revitalization system consists of a water vapor electrolysis module to generate oxygen from water vapor in the cabin air, and an electrochemical depolarized carbon dioxide concentrator module to remove carbon dioxide from the cabin air. A control/monitor instrumentation package that uses the electrochemical depolarized concentrator module power generated to partially offset the water vapor electrolysis module power requirements and various structural fluid routing components are also part of the system. The system was designed to meet the one man metabolic oxygen generation and carbon dioxide removal requirements, thereby controlling cabin partial pressure of oxygen at 22 kN/sq m and cabin pressure of carbon dioxide at 400 N/sq m over a wide range in cabin air relative humidity conditions.

Schbert, F. H.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Potential use of engineered nanoparticles in ocean fertilization for large-scale atmospheric carbon dioxide removal

Artificial ocean fertilization (AOF) aims to safely stimulate phytoplankton growth in the ocean and enhance carbon sequestration. AOF carbon sequestration efficiency appears lower than natural ocean fertilization processes due mainly to the low bioavailability of added nutrients, along with low export rates of AOF-produced biomass to the deep ocean. Here we explore the potential application of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) to overcome these issues. Data from 123 studies show that some ENPs may enhance phytoplankton growth at concentrations below those likely to be toxic in marine ecosystems. ENPs may also increase bloom lifetime, boost phytoplankton aggregation and carbon export, and address secondary limiting factors in AOF. Life-cycle assessment and cost analyses suggest that net CO 2 capture is possible for iron, SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 ENPs with costs of 2–5 times that of conventional AOF, whereas boosting AOF efficiency by ENPs should substantially enhance net CO 2 capture and reduce these costs. Therefore, ENP-based AOF can be an important component of the mitigation strategy to limit global warming.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
NASA NTRS2014

Rapid Startup and Loading of an Attached Growth, Simultaneous Nitrification/Denitrification Membrane Aerated Bioreactor

The Membrane Aerated Bioreactor (MABR) is an attached‐growth biological system for simultaneous nitrification and denitrification. This design is an innovative approach to common terrestrial wastewater treatments for nitrogen and carbon removal. Implementing a biologically‐based water treatment system for long‐duration human exploration is an attractive, low energy alternative to physiochemical processes. Two obstacles to implementing such a system are (1) the "start‐up" duration from inoculation to steady‐state operations and (2) the amount of surface area needed for the biological activity to occur. The Advanced Water Recovery Systems (AWRS) team at JSC explored these two issues through two tests; a rapid inoculation study and a wastewater loading study. Results from these tests demonstrate that the duration from inoculation to steady state can be reduced to two weeks and that the surface area to volume ratio baseline used in the Alternative Water Processor (AWP) test was higher than what was needed to remove the organic carbon and ammonium from the system.

Meyer, Caitlin↗
NASA NTRS2018

Swing Bed Scrubber Design and Test Integration Results for Carbon Dioxide Removal in the Ventilation Test Loop 2.0

NASA is developing an advanced portable life support system (PLSS) to meet the needs of a new NASA advanced space suit. The PLSS provides the necessary oxygen, ventilation, and thermal protection for an astronaut performing a spacewalk. The PLSS ventilation subsystem is responsible for providing adequate carbon dioxide (CO2) and water vapor removal. To experimentally validate the performance of CO2 removal and advanced CO2 sensing systems, NASA Johnson Space Center developed the Ventilation Test Loop 2.0 (VTL2) and tested the Oceaneering Swing Bed Scrubber (SBS) that was fabricated and delivered under the Constellation Space Suit System Contract in 2015. The SBS was designed to continuously remove CO2 and water vapor from a space suit ventilation loop with a pair of thermally integrated amine beds that alternately adsorb and desorb water vapor and CO2. The SBS hardware was recently resurrected and reassembled to support a full battery of performance testing in the VTL2. This paper describes the design and development of the SBS and the VTL2 along with the performance test results of the SBS.

Ventilation Test Loop↗
NASA NTRS2015

Genesis Solar Wind Sample 61422: Experiment in Variation of Sequence of Cleaning Solvent for Removing Carbon-Bearing Contamination

The recovered Genesis collector fragments are heavily contaminated with crash-derived particulate debris. However, megasonic treatment with ultra-pure-water (UPW; resistivity (is) greater than18 meg-ohm-cm) removes essentially all particulate contamination greater than 5 microns in size [e.g.1] and is thus of considerable importance. Optical imaging of Si sample 60336 revealed the presence of a large C-rich particle after UPW treatment that was not present prior to UPW. Such handling contamination is occasionally observed, but such contaminants are normally easily removed by UPW cleaning. The 60336 particle was exceptional in that, surprisingly, it was not removed by additional UPW or by hot xylene or by aqua regia treatment. It was eventually removed by treatment with NH3-H2O2. Our best interpretation of the origin of the 60336 particle was that it was adhesive from the Post-It notes used to stabilize samples for transport from Utah after the hard landing. It is possible that the insoluble nature of the 60336 particle comes from interaction of the Post-It adhesive with UPW. An occasional bit of Post-It adhesive is not a major concern, but C particulate contamination also occurs from the heat shield of the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) and this is mixed with inorganic contamination from the SRC and the Utah landing site. If UPW exposure also produced an insoluble residue from SRC C, this would be a major problem in chemical treatments to produce clean surfaces for analysis. This paper reports experiments to test whether particulate contamination was removed more easily if UPW treatment was not used.

Allton, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Much Lower Launch Costs Make Resupply Cheaper than Recycling for Space Life Support

The development of commercial launch vehicles by SpaceX has greatly reduced the cost of launching mass to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). Reusable launch vehicles may further reduce the launch cost per kilogram. The new low launch cost makes open loop life support much cheaper than before. Open loop systems resupply water and oxygen in tanks for crew use and provide disposable lithium hydroxide (LiOH) in canisters to remove carbon dioxide. Short human space missions such as Apollo and shuttle have used open loop life support, but the long duration International Space Station (ISS) recycles water and oxygen and removes carbon dioxide with a regenerative molecular sieve. These ISS regenerative and recycling life support systems have significantly reduced the total launch mass needed for life support. But, since the development cost of recycling systems is much higher than the cost of tanks and canisters, the relative cost savings have been much less than the launch mass savings. The Life Cycle Cost (LCC) includes development, launch, and operations. If another space station was built in LEO, resupply life support would be much cheaper than the current recycling systems. The mission most favorable to recycling would be a long term lunar base, since the resupply mass would be large, the proximity to Earth would reduce the need for recycling reliability and spares, and the launch cost would be much higher than for LEO due to the need for lunar transit and descent propulsion systems. For a ten-year lunar base, the new low launch costs make resupply cheaper than recycling systems similar to ISS life support.

launch costs↗
DOE OSTI2025

A Review of Carbon-14 Removal by Ion Exchange Resins and Potential Remediation Application in the 100-K Area

During operations at the U.S. Department of Energy Hanford Site, releases of chemical and radioactive waste resulted in contamination of the soil and groundwater beneath portions of the site, including inadvertent releases of carbon-14 in the 100-K Area. Ongoing environmental cleanup efforts in the 100-K Area are focused on hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] and thus have not yet addressed the two carbon-14 groundwater plumes.

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
NASA NTRS1973

Spacecraft oxygen recovery system

A system which uses an electrochemical carbon dioxide concentrator to remove carbon dioxide from the cabin atmosphere and a Sabatier reactor to reduce carbon dioxide with hydrogen to form methane and water is described. Oxygen is recovered from water by means of a static-feed water electrolysis system. The hydrogen thus generated is reused in the carbon dioxide concentrator. The methane is a system byproduct. The CO2 removal reactions and the implementation of the CO2 concentration concept are discussed, and test results are examined.

Quattrone, P. D.↗