Virtual Design of a 4-Bed Molecular Sieve for Exploration

Simulations of six new 4-Bed Molecular Sieve configurations have been performed using a COMSOL (COMSOL Multiphysics - commercial software) model. The preliminary results show that reductions in desiccant bed size and sorbent bed size when compared to the International Space Station configuration are feasible while still yielding a process that handles at least 4.0 kilograms a day CO2. The results also show that changes to the CO2 sorbent are likewise feasible. Decreasing the bed sizes was found to have very little negative effect on the adsorption process; breakthrough of CO2 in the sorbent bed was observed for two of the configurations, but a small degree of CO2 breakthrough is acceptable, and water breakthrough in the desiccant beds was not observed. Both configurations for which CO2 breakthrough was observed still yield relatively high CO2 efficiency, and future investigations will focus on bed size in order to find the optimum configuration.