NASA SBIR 2002 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN: (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Advanced Fuel Research, Inc.
87 Church Street
East Hartford , CT   06108 - 3728
(860 ) 528 - 9806

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER: (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/ZIP, Phone)
Marek Wojtowicz
marek@AFRinc.com
87 Church Street
East Hartford , CT   06108 - 3728
(860 ) 528 - 9806

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)
The NASA objective of expanding the human experience into the far reaches of space will require the development of regenerable life support systems. On-board carbon dioxide (CO2) removal units play a key role in such systems ensuring high quality cabin air for crew members. Similar but more compact units are needed for extravehicular activities (space suit). The overall objective is to develop a CO2-removal system that possesses substantial weight, size, and power-requirement advantages over current systems (improved CO2 adsorption and lower pressure drop). The proposed innovation involves the use and manufacture of lightweight, porous carbon monoliths with controlled pore characteristics that will serve as support for the sorbent material (amines). The proof of feasibility was successfully demonstrated Phase I. The objective of the Phase II study is to develop a 1/7 scale prototype CO2/H2O removal system capable of supporting air revitalization for one person. This will be accomplished in the following six tasks: (1) Sorbent Optimization; (2) Subscale Device Development (1/70 scale); (3) Prototype Design; (4) Prototype Construction; (5) Prototype Testing; and (6) System Evaluation.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The main application of the proposed technology would be in spacecraft life-support systems, both in cabin-air revitalization and extravehicular activities (e.g., space suit).

POTENTIAL NON-NASA APPLICATION(S) (LIMIT 150 WORDS)
The carbon materials developed in this project could find spin-off applications in fuel cells and batteries. Greenhouse gas mitigation is another potential application. DOE is aggressively pursuing technologies beyond pumped aqueous amine systems. New systems must offer lower cost of capture compared to the pumped amine systems. Our solid amine systems can offer higher amine loadings and, therefore, better CO2 removal compared to the pumped systems. Due to a lower power requirement, operating costs should be lower. CO2 scrubbing in the medical field offers additional opportunities (inhalation drug therapy and anesthetic CO2 removal). European and US manufacturers are having more difficulty with single-use CO2 scrubbers due to the increased disposal costs. Regenerable technologies will provide reduced cost when the overall life cycle costs are counted (e.g. disposal). The technology developed in this project may also find an important application in air-revitalization systems on board U.S. Navy submarines.