An environmental control system includes an air conditioning subsystem; a mix manifold downstream of the air conditioning subsystem and upstream of an environment to be conditioned; and a contaminant removal subsystem downstream of the environment to be conditioned. The contaminant removal subsystem includes a first gas-liquid contactor-separator. The first gas-liquid contactor-separator includes a first packed, stationary bed that provides a heat/mass transfer surface for contact between a contaminated air from the environment and a liquid absorbent.

An environmental control system includes an air conditioning subsystem and a contaminant removal subsystem downstream of the environment to be conditioned. The contaminant removal subsystem includes: a first gas-liquid contactor-separator; a second gas-liquid contactor-separator; and a dehumidifier disposed either upstream of the first gas-liquid contactor-separator or downstream of the second gas-liquid contactor-separator.

A liquid desiccant system including a high desorber, a low desorber, and an absorber that are in fluid communication with a working solution, where the high desorber provides rejected water vapor from the working fluid for condensation in a condenser of the low desorber that provides heat for rejection of additional water from the working solution in the low desorber effectively multiplying the heat provided for desorption. The low desorber provided the concentrated working solution to the absorber where water from ambient air is condensed into the concentrated working solution to provide a dilute working solution within a working solution conduit of the absorber that is thermally coupled to an internal cooler of the absorber. In some embodiments, the working solution can be an aqueous solution of at least one ionic liquid.

A spacesuit contaminant removal system includes at least one membrane separator and a liquid sorbent circuit. The at least one membrane separator is configured to receive a spent air stream from a ventilation system of a spacesuit and absorb a contaminant from the spent air stream into a liquid sorbent. The at least one membrane separator is configured to discharge a clean air stream to the ventilation system and discharge the contaminant in a contaminant stream to a space environment using a vacuum of the space environment. The liquid sorbent circuit is configured to circulate the liquid sorbent through the at least one membrane separator.

Metal-containing ionic liquids can demonstrate a sharply increased viscosity relative to the same ionic liquids without the metal cation. Metal-containing ionic liquid compositions are disclosed that contain viscosity modifiers that reduce viscosity. Metal-containing ionic liquids are applicable to methods and within systems designed for the purpose of removing and recovering certain components of process streams such as ethylene, isobutane, or both. Methods for removing and recovering ethylene from process streams are also disclosed herein as having increased ethylene removal capacity concurrently with reductions in viscosity without corresponding reductions in metal cation concentrations.

A solvent system for the removal of acid gases from mixed gas streams is provided. Also provided is a process for removing acid gases from mixed gas streams using the disclosed solvent systems. The solvent systems may be utilized within a gas processing system.

A carbon dioxide conversion system for an environment includes a first gas-liquid contactor-separator downstream of the environment; an electrochemical conversion cell downstream of the first gas-liquid contactor-separator; and a cleaned ionic liquid storage intermediate the first gas-liquid contactor-separator and the electrochemical conversion cell.

A carbon dioxide conversion system for an environment includes a first gas-liquid contactor-separator downstream of the environment; an electrochemical conversion cell downstream of the first gas-liquid contactor-separator; and a cleaned ionic liquid storage intermediate the first gas-liquid contactor-separator and the electrochemical conversion cell.

A liquid desiccant system including a high desorber, a low desorber, and an absorber that are in fluid communication with a working solution, where the high desorber provides rejected water vapor from the working fluid for condensation in a condenser of the low desorber that provides heat for rejection of additional water from the working solution in the low desorber effectively multiplying the heat provided for desorption. The low desorber provided the concentrated working solution to the absorber where water from ambient air is condensed into the concentrated working solution to provide a dilute working solution within a working solution conduit of the absorber that is thermally coupled to an internal cooler of the absorber. In some embodiments, the working solution can be an aqueous solution of at least one ionic liquid.

A method for operating a reactor facility for equilibrium-limited reactions, includes: converting starting materials to a product in a reaction chamber under a pressure p1, wherein an absorbent is loaded with the product and absorbs starting materials; discharging the loaded absorbent from the reaction chamber; lowering the pressure of the absorbent to a pressure p2 which is lower than pressure p1 and the product and starting materials are discharged in the gaseous state from the liquid absorbent; separating the gaseous products by condensation from the gaseous starting materials at the same time as a pressure p3 higher than pressure p1 is applied to the liquid absorbent, under pressure p3 into a liquid jet gas compressor in which the gaseous starting materials separated from the products are aspirated and dissolved in the liquid absorbent; and then introduced under pressure p4, which is lower than pressure p3, into the reaction chamber.