Experimental Results of a Rapidly Cycled Temperature Swing Adsorption Pump in a Terrestrial Environment

To improve the increasing CO2 levels on Earth, technology for carbon capture and utilization must be efficient and cost effective. One major contributor of atmospheric CO2 is post-combustion flue gas, which can contain up to 20% CO2. Scrubbing this CO2 could reduce the environmental impact of this common industrial process. In off-Earth environments, capturing and utilizing CO2 from space resources is useful for crewed spaceflight life support. Specifically, the Bosch process, which produces water and carbon powder by reacting CO2 and hydrogen, is a possible in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) architecture for the Moon and Mars. The Rapid Cycle Temperature Swing Adsorption (RC-TSA) pump is an innovative technology designed to capture CO2 efficiently. The RC-TSA leverages a stacked plate geometry to cycle multiple zeolite-coated beds. The thin layers allow for rapid heat transfer of the zeolite coating, which improves performance over previously tested pump designs. The design is favorable for scalability and manufacturability, which are forward work. Initial testing of the sorption pump using a simulated flue gas environment shows favorable breakthrough capacities and reduced cycle times. Results show promise for on- and off-Earth applications, such as a Martian surface and crewed spaceflight environments.