Development of advanced lightweight Trace Contaminant Control (TCC) filters plays an important role in removing ammonia and formaldehyde contaminants?both those produced by crew metabolism and material/equipment off-gassing into the space suit system for future space and planetary systems. Serionix Inc. has developed proprietary adsorptive coatings which can be applied on porous and nonporous substrates to yield functional composite media capable of rapid, efficient?adsorption of trace ammonia and formaldehyde. In Phase I, research was conducted which demonstrated technical feasibility and excellent performance capacity of Serionix single-pass and regenerable adsorbents for targeted components under simulated PLSS operating environment. During phase II, we will tailor our sorbents and design a prototype directly compatible with PLSS requirements, for filter assembly which can be incorporated into a TCC system or synergistically integrated with the existing RCA unit. In addition, we will perform extensive robustness testing to evaluate media under operational and hazard scenario conditions. Successful implementation of our technology will increase efficiency while reducing mass, volume, and pressure drop of the?TCC system to protect the crew in all mission environments and address a wide range of current and future NASA requirements.

The primary focus of this research effort is demonstrating feasibility of the underlying technology while developing our media for the filter in TCC unit or incorporating our media in RCA unit to remove trace levels of ammonia and formaldehyde from a space suit ventilation loop; whether through the use of ultra-high capacity single-use media, or easily regenerated multi-use media, the system is fully expected to be capable of protecting the crew in all environments for future space and interplanetary missions. Ammonia, formaldehyde and other VOCs pose a great risk to the health of astronauts and integrity of equipment aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), and such this technology could be of great value to broader NASA missions.

As a result of the exceptional product performance, low cost, and attractive color-change feature, we intend to continue developing our core technology in an effort to ultimately license the product and brand into a broad range of markets including HVAC, cleanroom air filters, automotive cabin air, and specialty gas-phase filtration.