Search Results

Trace contaminants originating from both material off-gassing and human metabolism may cause human safety and welfare issues, when they accumulate in the air of closed manned environments. Biological oxidation is a viable solution for the removal of these contaminants. The Biological Air Filter, BAF, a development of Stork and Bioclear is a continuously operating system, which degrades trace volatile organic contaminants (VOCs) to harmless components, i.e. water and CO2. The BAF forms an interesting alternative to the existing physical-chemical trace contaminant control systems. This ecological system is low in weight, volume and power consumption. Due to the nature of the system the maintenance requirements are also very limited. The applied microorganisms are harmless and the system is operated at atmospheric pressure, which makes the system extremely safe within the operating environment.

In an on-going harmonized ESA/NIVR project, performed by Stork Comprimo and TNO-MEP, the removal of the carbon dioxide with membranes is studied. The use of membrane gas absorption for carbon dioxide removal is currently hampered by the fact that the commonly used alkanolamines result in leakage problems when using polyolefin membranes. This prevents the use of membrane gas absorption for carbon dioxide in spacecrafts. TNO has recently discovered classes of liquids for carbon dioxide absorption which are suitable for use with cheap polyolefin membranes. This opens the possibility for using membrane gas absorption for carbon dioxide control in spacecrafts. In the project the performance of membrane gas absorption for the removal of carbon dioxide from gas streams having a chemical composition representative of spacecraft conditions are determined experimentally.