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

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 CO2 as buffer gas (CO2-COIL) was investigated. The novel pressure recovery system works by chemisorbing the CO2-COIL effluents into two fixed-beds maintained at initial temperature of around 293-323K. Compared with the cryosorption system for N2-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 O2 ,Cl2 and I2, another was used for chemisorbing the acidic gas such as CO2. The capacities of the two sorbents were measured to be 3.12 mmol（O2）/g and 3.84 mmol (CO2) /g, respectively. It indicated that the synthesized sorbents could effectively chemosorb the CO2-COIL effluents. Secondly, analog test equipment was set up and used to study the feasibility of the novel pressure recovery system used for CO2-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 CO2-COIL based on chemical absorption is feasible.