Methane Post-Processor Development to Increase Oxygen Recovery beyond State-of-the-Art Carbon Dioxide Reduction Technology

Stateoftheart life support carbon dioxide (CO2) reduction technology, based on the Sabatier reaction, is theoretically capable of 50% recovery of oxygen from metabolic CO2. This recovery is constrained by the limited availability of reactant hydrogen. Postprocessing of the methane byproduct from the Sabatier reactor results in hydrogen recycle and a subsequent increase in oxygen recovery. For this purpose, a Methane PostProcessor Assembly containing three subsystems has been developed and tested. The assembly includes a Methane Purification Assembly (MePA) to remove residual CO2 and water vapor from the Sabatier product stream, a Plasma Pyrolysis Assembly (PPA) to partially pyrolyze methane into hydrogen and acetylene, and an Acetylene Separation Assembly (ASepA) to purify the hydrogen product for recycle. The results of partially integrated testing of the subsystems are reported.