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Carbon dioxide (CO2) control is crucial for crew inhabited space-flight. Existing systems suffer from high consumable usage rates (e.g., LiOH), high mass and/or volume, and/or high energy costs associated with regeneration of CO2 adsorption capacity (e.g., metal oxide). Any new technology must be safe, reliable and have low EMS - small volume, low mass, low rate of energy use, minimal use of consumables, and little need for crew time for operation and maintenance. Our enzyme catalyzed contained liquid membrane facilitated transport reactor/separator for the selective capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from mixed gas streams satisfies these requirements. The liquid membrane is held in place by hydrophobic microporous polypropylene membranes. This continuous process design is ideally suited to CO2 concentrations ranging from 0.035% to 1% or even higher. The system is stable and can accept feed or sweep gases independent of relative humidity.

Control of carbon dioxide (CO2) is crucial for all crew inhabited space-flight missions. Air revitalization requires safe and reliable CO2 extraction systems characterized by small volume, low mass, low rate of energy use, minimal use of consumables, and little or no crew time for operation and maintenance. Current designs are relatively costly to operate due to consumable usage rates (e.g., LiOH), high mass and/or volume (solid amines), and/or high energy costs associated with regeneration of CO2 adsorption capacity (e.g., metal oxide). Our work focuses on the development of a highly efficient enzyme catalyzed, Carbonic Anhydrase based liquid membrane biomimetic reactor. We report here on the use of aqueous chemistry modeling to guide the design of new liquid membrane compositions. We examine the effects of these new solutions on enzyme activity and on the solubility of other gases in the mix.