[C2H4 reducing facility for controlled ecological life support system].
OBJECTIVE: To develop an experimental facility for reducing C2H4 produced by plants' growing in the controlled ecological life support system (CELSS). METHOD: Based on technical parameters and performance requirements, project planning, design drawing, fabrication, and debug were conducted. Then, an experimental test for reducing C2H4 was done by measuring the content of C2H4 in gases between the inlet and the outlet of the facility. Its C2H4 decomposing capacity was evaluated. RESULT: The facility worked well, and the parameters, such as energy consumption, and volume, met the design requirements. The experimental test results demonstrated that the content of C2H4 was reduced from 0.034 mg/kg to below 0.010 mg/kg, under the condition that the relative humidity and velocity of flow of the inlet-gas was 20% and 1.0-3.0 L/min respectively, and power of the lamp was 48 W. Considering the composition and the content of the gas in the outlet of the facility, there was no harmful product to the plants, except CO2 and H2O. CONCLUSION: The facility has reasonable technical indices, and smooth and dependable performances. It can be used as a facility for decomposing C2H4 in plants growing system in CELSS.