Development of CO2 Reduction-Water Electrolysis Tandem Device as a Full-Scale Model

This study describes an advanced tandem reactor for environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS). The reactor consists of a low-temperature (220°C) Sabatier reactor producing water and methane (CH4) from carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrogen (H2) and a thermally coupled water electrolysis cell with a proton exchange membrane (PEM). The Sabatier component generates heat energy used to operate a tandem water electrolyzer and is thermally self-sustaining. A previous, subscale reactor generated 1 L/min of hydrogen (H2) for the Sabatier reaction and achieved 93 % CO2 conversion. The model electrolyzer used in this study currently generates H2 at 3.6 L/min, which the Sabatier reactor can use to convert 1.58 L/min of CO2 to CH4 as much as possible.