Experimental CO2 Breakthrough Analysis of 3D-printed Zeolitic Lattice Beds

Current state-of-the-art packed bed adsorbent systems often rely on randomly positioned zeolite beads. The random packing imposes several performance limitations, including wall channeling, high pressure drop penalties, and poor thermal transport due to the point-to-point contact between beads. These attributes limit the performance and adsorption characteristics of such systems. Here, advanced 3D printing techniques are utilized to enable next-generation 3D-printed monolithic beds made of zeolitic structures for space life support systems. Detailed benchtop experiments are performed to understand the underlying sorption physics of 3D-printed zeolite lattice structures, exploring the effect of air velocity on CO2 breakthrough curves. Results indicate, among other findings, that the absorption rate increases at higher air velocities. The insights obtained from this study pave the way for new-generation 3D-printed life support systems that can be engineered for reliability, performance, and power consumption.