Feasibility study of a novel pressure recovery system for CO₂-COIL based on chemical absorption

Abstract

A chemical oxygen-iodine laser (COIL) is an electronic transition, low pressure, high throughput system. The use of this laser demands a suitable pressure recovery system. This paper proposed a novel pressure recovery system based on chemical absorption and the feasibility for COIL with CO 2 as buffer gas (CO 2 -COIL) was investigated. The novel pressure recovery system works by chemisorbing the CO 2 -COIL effluents into two fixed-beds maintained at initial temperature of around 293-323K. Compared with the cryosorption system for N 2 -COIL based on physical absorption, the novel chemisorptions based pressure recovery system has a simpler logistics and a shorter run-to-run preparation time.Two kinds of solid chemo-sorbents were designed and synthesized. One was used for chemisorbing the oxidizing gases such as O 2 ,Cl 2 and I 2 , another was used for chemisorbing the acidic gas such as CO 2 . The capacities of the two sorbents were measured to be 3.12 mmol(O 2 )/g and 3.84 mmol (CO 2 ) /g, respectively. It indicated that the synthesized sorbents could effectively chemosorb the CO 2 -COIL effluents. Secondly, analog test equipment was set up and used to study the feasibility of the novel pressure recovery system used for CO 2 -COIL. The test results showed that the novel pressure recovery system could maintain the pressure under 6 Torr for tens seconds under the continuous gas flow. It showed that the novel pressure recovery system for CO 2 -COIL based on chemical absorption is feasible.