Recycleing Air

[waxy]

I'm completly noob here so plz forgive me if i post in the <br />wrong forums section while i'm learning my way around.<br /><br />Looking through nasa's website, it seems the only ideas <br />they have for recycling air requires the use of plants.<br />Although it would be nice to have food growing in space<br />when the nearest Fry's or WinnDixie is over 200,000 miles <br />away, i feel it is wrong to tie up your life support with an<br />unrepairable system. suppose the plants start lacking a <br />mineral or other compound and this causes them all to <br />perform poorly or other such situation arrises. If plants <br />die you can wait a few days for a food shipment. you can't<br />wait for air.<br /><br /><br />When seeking to convert CO2 to O2 why don't they <br />atleast experiment with creating a more mechanical and<br />dependable system. here are my 2 suggestions:<br /><br />1 - collect the CO2 from the air and heat it to 1700C.<br />This would cause it to seperate into CO and O2.<br />1700C sounds awful hot for a space ship, but for such as a<br />moon base, i don't see why it wouldn't be possiable.<br /><br />2 - Collect the CO2 from the air, pressurize it into a liquid,<br />run an electrical current through it to create C & O2. (i <br />don't know if this one works, but in theory i don't see why <br />not.)<br /><br />any info on these two teniques i'd appericate.

 

[najab]

Do some Googling in the Elektron system onboard the ISS. It's not closed-cycle, but it does go a long way to closing the loop.

 

[nacnud]

The currewnt plans for the ISS generate O₂ from waste water rather than from carbon dioxide.<br /><br />Have a look and this Enviromental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) website.<br /><br />http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWMSFC/eclss.html

 

[waxy]

Thanks for the input, guys. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[scottb50]

I would think it would work to use Hydrogen/air fuel cells to provide power then hydrolize the resulting water, CO2, Nitrogen and contaminants in the air would be treated or dumped. It might be more cost effective to use CO2 as a reaction propellant then recover the Oxygen anyway.<br /><br />The only problem would be like Elektron seems to have with contamination. Permial membranes are prone to contamination, I just wonder how long changing the electrolyte helps. I guess it is pretty muich like an oil change. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

I wouldn't be surprised if a biological plant system worked out to be cheaper, lighter, more efficient and reliable than a complicated chemical "plant".

 

[tap_sa]

The biological version would enjoy massive parallelism, self-repair, self-replicating and possibly offer food as a sideproduct. But keeping a purely biological O2/CO2 cycle in balance indefinitely may be tricky (like Biosphere experiments), certain amount of 'tweaking' using physical/chemical systems may be necessary.

 

[nacnud]

Then go for the simplest possible biological system, how about cynaobacteria?