Avalon’s Semi-Closed Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) Part 3 – Crops to Extend the Diet and Produce Wood Fiber and Chemicals
£5.00
R. J. Soilleux (2020), JBIS, 73, pp.221-224
Refcode: 2020.73.221
Keywords: Open Environmental Control and Life Support System, ECLSS, Soil production, Wood for construction, Chemical reforming by fermentation, Bioreactor
Abstract:
A fully closed ecosystem will be impossible for Avalon with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and carbon unavoidably lost from airlocks requiring replacement. However, if these replacement nutrients can be imported cheaply enough, the ECLSS sub- systems could be used to generate, in addition to basic food and clean water, an increased range of foodstuffs and useful products such as wood, fiber and chemicals. It is estimated that soil grown crops consuming 20,220 t of C, 60,664 t of water and 15.7 t of N annually could produce 53,920 t of LOX, and extend the diet to provide each inhabitant with a daily orange and sufficient wheat for a portion of bread and/or pasta. Also, enough wood could be grown for housing (in 4 years), or the biomass converted to give 25,278 t of glucose as fermentation feedstock.
