Recycling raw spacecraft waste biomass may significantly reduce the resupply of expendable activated carbon used in air revitalization ECLS. Activated carbon produced from inedible plant biomass or algal biomass can be used for trace contaminant control. However, the activated carbon produced must have similar NH3 and dichloromethane removal capacities as current commercial activated carbons used on ISS. The feasibility of methods for producing activated carbon from inedible plant biomass and algae is presented and discussed. The removal capacities of plant and algal biomass derived sorbents were compared to capacities of commercial acid-treated sorbents.
Monje et al. (Sun,) studied this question.