A compact reverse water-gas-shift reactor suitable for use extra terrestrial mission as part of the in-situ propellant production system is reported. The reactor was less than 15 cm3 in volume and weighed less than 50 gm. With a proprietary Ru/ZrO2-CeO catalyst it was able to produce over 150 gm H2O/hr operating at 800oC. This is near equilibrium conversion at about ½ scale of a Mars return mission. Even at these high processing rates the pressure drop remained low (from 1.6 to 7.6 kPa).
Revised: July 22, 2010 |
Published: May 1, 2008
Citation
Holladay J.D., K.P. Brooks, P.H. Humble, J. Hu, and T. Simon. 2008.Compact Reverse Water-Gas-Shift Reactor for Extra-Terrestrial In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU).Journal of Propulsion and power 24, no. 3:578-582. PNWD-SA-8043.