Purify the Air Supply

Has your time spent indoors increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of stay-at-home and shelter-in-place policies worldwide? Your challenge is to use the International Space Station (ISS) as inspiration and develop a system to monitor and/or purify indoor air. It is entirely up to you whether the system you design is able to be used on Earth (for example in homes, businesses, transportation, etc.) and/or in space.

Wefilter : Air purification solution

Summary

The challenge that is dealt with is to purify air in a closed area. The goal is achieved by making electrolysis to water to generate oxygen and hydrogen. Thus, oxygen can be used in breathing in a closed area and hydrogen is let to dissolve in air. The problem that was faced is that people exhale and let out carbon dioxide. This problem is solved by materials that can remove CO2. The idea is to install membranes that reserve CO2 and then be compressed for storage which is can be used as organic compounds. By these processes, goal is achieved.

How We Addressed This Challenge

The challenge that is dealt with is to purify the air in the office or home generally in a closed area, so people can breathe fresh air in indoors places. To achieve that it is needed pure oxygen which will be made by using recycled water to reduce the usage of water, then making electrolysis process for it as it will turn into two gases which are oxygen and hydrogen. Thus oxygen can be used in breathing in a closed area and the hydrogen is let to dissolve in air as it is not needed, but when people exhale they let out carbon dioxide gas from their lungs which is harmful for the environment as it helps to get the place hotter and uncomfortable, so it must be  removed. That will be done by materials that can remove this gas. The idea is to install membranes that reserve carbon dioxide and can then be concentrated and compressed for storage. "Membranes are efficient and can save energy compared to other systems”, said professor Marco Giacinti Baschetti at university of Bologna, Italy. The membrane, developed by scientists at the Norwegian university of science and technology, consists of hollow fibers, about one millimeter thick, covered with an extremely thin layer of nano-cellulose and polymer mixed with artificial nucleos amino acids, made of wood fibers, the amino acid grabs onto Co2 and pulls it across the membrane. After the carbon dioxide particles are trapped inside the membrane, it can be used to make useful organic compounds, such as use the retained carbon dioxide in the manufacture of the polyurethane compound, which can be used in many industrial applications in garments, household applications, and packing. By these processes, the goal is achieved which is the purification of the air with high efficiency and use the waste of carbon dioxide to make useful organic compounds.

How We Developed This Project

Our development in this project is to get rid of carbon dioxide by using membranes. These function to reserve this gas. And this is very important given the negative results this gas causes. The membrane is consisting of hollow fibers, about one millimeter thick, covered with an extremely thin layer of nanocellulose and polymer mixed with artificial nucleus amino acids, made of wood fibers, it allows carbon dioxide while blocking other gases, the amino acid grabs onto Co2 and pulls it across the membrane. After the carbon dioxide particles are trapped inside the membrane, it can be used to make useful organic compounds, such as use the retained carbon dioxide in the manufacture of the polyurethane compound, which can be used in many industrial applications in garments, household applications, and packing.

Project Demo

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NpqvilCbH8eGnl1CEa9rg6eu0Yp8INdo/view?usp=sharing

Data & Resources

Nasa

Global Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Global Judging process.