The proposed technology will create low cost, compact, robust, high-efficiency microreactor systems for conversion of CO2 to CH4, with integrated centripetal microchannel separators for gas-liquid separations in microgravity. NASA applications would benefit from the capability for in-situ generation of hydrocarbon fuels from CO2 sourced from, e.g., crew exhalation gases or the Martian atmosphere. The compact form factor of the proposed stackable-plate is anticipated to integrate readily into NASA space vehicles.
The proposed technology not only addresses the desire for "ISRU processes associated with collecting, separating, pressurizing, and processing gases collected from in-situ resources including the Mars atmosphere, trash processing, and volatiles released from in-situ soil/regolith resources, into oxygen, methane, and water," but also provides a manufacturing route to "highly efficient chemical reactors … based on modular/stackable microchannel plate architectures" for efficient, low-power, in-situ conversion of carbon dioxide to methane. Reduction in anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including CO2, is a well-established governmental and business target. In the Sixth United States Climate Action Report, for example, the goal of "reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020" was noted. Broader interest in the developed world also exists for reductions in GHG emissions. Electrical power generation by fossil fuel combustion and industrial production all entail large amounts of generated CO2 at present. Upon demonstration and scaling, the produced microreactors will be compatible with existing technologies and installable directly into the market.
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