Date of Award
Summer 2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Department
Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Committee Director
Xiaoyu Zhang
Committee Member
Robert L. Ash
Committee Member
Drew Landman
Abstract
Carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere can be converted to oxygen during high temperature electrolysis for use in life-support and fuel systems on manned missions to the red planet. During electrolysis of carbon dioxide to produce oxygen, carbon can deposit on the electrolysis cell resulting in lower efficiency and possibly cell damage. This would be detrimental, especially when the oxygen product is used as the key element of a space life support system. In this thesis, a theoretical model was developed to predict hazardous carbon deposition conditions under various operating conditions within the Martian atmosphere. The model can be used as a guide to determine the ideal operating conditions of the high-temperature oxygen production system. A parallel experimental investigation is underway to evaluate the accuracy of the theoretical model. The experimental design, cell fabrication, and some preliminary results as well as future work recommendations are also presented in this thesis.
Rights
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DOI
10.25777/yab0-kc93
ISBN
9781369143669
Recommended Citation
Bernadowski, Timothy A..
"Carbon Deposition During Oxygen Production Using High Temperature Electrolysis and Mitigation Methods"
(2016). Master of Science (MS), Thesis, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/yab0-kc93
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/mae_etds/10