High Efficiency Water Tolerant Carbon Monoxide Catalyst for Closed Manned Submarine Environments

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) and Saint Gobain NorPro will develop a portable low SWAP carbon monoxide (CO) purification system based on an energy efficient air handling system and a water tolerant CO catalyst.  The catalyst exploits the interfacial synergy between catalyst nanoparticles and a redox-active support to enable room temperature CO oxidation.  A hydrophobic coating will extend catalyst lifetime in humid environments by preventing water from entering and deactivating the catalyst.  With guidance from Saint Gobain, the catalyst will be engineered into a modular fixed-bed with an operational lifetime of >10,000 hr at 100 cfm. Based on the Navy’s SWAP requirements, PSI has generated a preliminary CO purification system design that is rugged, compact, and rapidly deployable in emergency situations. Accordingly, the proposed CO purification system will fulfill the Navy’s capability requirement for a portable system that can remove hazardous levels of CO from ambient air in closed manned submarine environments. The Phase I effort will develop the catalyst materials and evaluate their CO reactivity at room temperature and high humidity using a fixed-bed reactor. Catalyst reactivity and system performance results will be used to generate a catalyst bed design (catalyst particle size, bed volume, form factor) that enables continuous operation for >10,000 hr without a performance drop. Top catalysts will be scaled-up and CO reactivity will be evaluated for 1-month in accelerated aging studies.  The preliminary CO purification system prototype design will be refined based on the engineering analysis, guidance from Saint Gobain, and the Navy’s specifications.  In Phase II, PSI will work closely with the Navy to build a CO purification system prototype that will be validated for shipboard survivability, tested in a limited operational environment, and ultimately transitioned to the DoD through the PMS 397 acquisition program.