Title

Carbon Dioxide Reduction with Alkali-Metal Amalgams

Date

1968

Index Abstract

Not Available

Photo Quality

Not Needed

Report Number

AMRL TR 68-36

Creator

Treharne, Richard W.

Cox, Charles M.

Corporate Author

Charles F. Kettering Research Laboratory; Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories

Laboratory

Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories

Extent

26

Identifier

AD0679597

Access Rights

This document has been approved for public release and sale; its distribution is unlimited

Distribution Classification

1

Contract

F33615-67-C-1333

DoD Project

6373

DoD Task

63706

DTIC Record Exists

No

Distribution Change Authority Correspondence

None

Distribution Conflict

No

Abstract

The reduction of carbon dioxide by alkali-metal amalgams was studied as a potential means for reclamation of carbon dioxide waste gas in space systems. The carbon dioxide reduction reactions were investigated at moderate temperatures and pressures - typically 25 to 200 C and 1 to 1.1 atmospheres. The investigations demonstrated that carbon dioxide can be reduced effectively by an appropriate alkali-metal amalgam system. Moreover, the alkali-amalgam expended in the carbon dioxide reduction process can be reclaimed by electrolysis from an aqueous or nonaqueous salt solution containing the fixed carbon dioxide products. The carbon dioxide fixation products can be drained-off or, in some cases, recycled for further reduction. In the carbon dioxide reduction reactions by alkali-amalgam systems, a wide variety of products ranging from simple organic acids, such as formic and oxalic acid, to totally reduced carbon dioxide in the form of carbon black have been identified. The types of products formed are dependent upon such factors as the type of alkali-metal amalgam used, temperature, pressure, and electrolytic reducing conditions. In electrolytic recovery of the alkali-metal amalgam from aqueous media, oxygen also is produced as a useful by-product of the carbon dioxide reduction system.

Report Availability

Full text available

Date Issued

1968-08

Provenance

RAF Centre of Aviation Medicine

Type

report

Format

1 online resource