Sustainable Microalgae-Membrane Photobioreactor (MPBR) System for Onboard Oxygen Production in an Aircraft 2024-26-0402

The purpose of the Air Generation System is to provide a constant supply of conditioned fresh air to meet the necessary oxygen availability and to prevent carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations for the occupants in an aircraft. The engine bleed energy or electrical load energy consumed towards this circumstance accounts to be approx. 5% of total fuel burn and in turn, contributes to the global emissions of greenhouse gases. This paper studies the improvement areas of the present conventional system such as fuel burn consumption associated with an aircraft environmental control system (ECS) depending on, the amount of bleed and ram air usage, electric power consumption. Improved systems for propulsion, power generation, sustainability, hybridization, and environmental control can be desirable for an aircraft. This paper explains how a new design of the sustainable hybrid module assists the conventional system, by using a proposed modular Microalgae-Membrane Photobioreactor (MPBR) which generates oxygen enriched air, this air is mixed with a traditional fresh air manifold, which revitalizes the existing air and establishes more air recirculation when compared to a conventional system, thereby reducing the demand for fresh air from the engine bleed or reduced electrical load, which hereby improves engine efficiency. The proposed system can also be used for redundant life support purposes during an emergency. VOCs related to fuel consumption, maintenance, and global emissions of greenhouse gases can be addressed. Since the proposal applies to most of the aircraft variants and the proposed enhanced sustainability, hybridization, reliability, and cost-effective features, would be of value and interest in a business case for the Suppliers, Manufacturers, and Customers side.