Computer Simulation and Modeling of CO2 Removal Systems for Exploration

The Atmosphere Revitalization Recovery and Environmental Monitoring (ARREM) project was initiated in September of 2011 as part of the Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) program. Under the ARREM project and the follow-on Life Support Systems Project (LSSP), testing of sub-scale and full-scale systems has been combined with multiphysics computer simulations for evaluation and optimization of subsystem approaches. In particular, this paper will describe the testing and 1-D modeling of the combined water desiccant and carbon dioxide sorbent subsystems of the carbon dioxide removal assembly (CDRA), as well as initial 3-D modeling and test validation approaches for vacuum desorption. The goal is a full system predictive model of CDRA to guide system optimization and development.