Evaluation of Sorbents for Acetylene Separation in Atmosphere Revitalization Loop Closure

State-of-the-art carbon dioxide reduction technology uses a Sabatier reactor to recover water from metabolic carbon dioxide. In order to maximize oxygen loop closure, a byproduct of the system, methane, must be reduced to recover hydrogen. NASA is currently exploring a microwave plasma methane pyrolysis system for this purpose. The resulting product stream of this technology includes unreacted methane, product hydrogen, and acetylene. The hydrogen and the small amount of unreacted methane resulting from the pyrolysis process can be returned to the Sabatier reactor thereby substantially improving the overall efficiency of the system. However, the acetylene is a waste product that must be removed from the pyrolysis product. Two materials have been identified as potential sorbents for acetylene removal: zeolite 4A, a commonly available commercial sorbent, and HKUST-1, a newly developed microporous metal. This paper provides an explanation of the rationale behind acetylene removal and the results of separation testing with both materials.