Published 15-03-2018

SAILORS BREATHE EASIER WITH CSIRO CRYSTALS

15-03-2018
CSIRO’s Dr Xavier Mulet and QinetiQ Australia Managing Director Greg Barsby

CSIRO, has joined forces with technical and engineering services company QinetiQ on a ground breaking project aimed at improving carbon scrubbing in underwater vessels. 

If successful, the program would be a tripple-score, letting submarines stay submerged longer while using less power and providing better conditions for sailors.

The new technology, called metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), could form part to the Australian government’s Future Submarines Program (SEA 1000), the largest and most complex military program ever undertaken in Australia.

SEA 1000 involves the design and construction of 12 highly advanced submarines with a range in excess of 33,000 kilometres and capable of operating independently for up to 80 days.

“Together, we’ll be testing whether advanced materials known as Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) can allow submarines to remain submerged longer. MOFs have the largest internal surface area of any known substance, which can be optimised to capture gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2)," said CSIRO Project Leader Associate Professor Matthew Hill. 

“The more CO2 MOFs can capture and store, the longer a submarine can potentially remain underwater, undetected.”

QinetiQ Australia MD Greg Barsby said MOFs could give Australian submarines a performance advantage that lets them dive longer while placing less demand on a submarines precious space and weight, as well as critical systems such as power.

“We’re focused on creating real capability gains for the Australian Defence Forces. This project plays to both partners’ strengths, our decades of experience and expertise in submarine operations and atmospheres; plus CSIRO’s unmatched and patented ability to make MOFs in large volumes, cheaply and with great precision,” he said. 

As submarines are an enclosed space, CO2 expelled by the crews’ breathing and other chemical processes builds up and can eventually become toxic. Carbon dioxide scrubbers avoid that, by removing CO2 from a submarine’s atmosphere and storing it for later release.

Current CO2 scrubbers though take up a large amount of the limited space, weight and power available in submarines. They can also generate corrosive by-products, which have both health and sustainment implications in the close confines of a submarine.

A MOF-based system would use a smaller amount of space, place less demands on a sub’s systems and wouldn’t rely on damaging gasses.

RELATED NEWS

  1. Australia’s industries and productivity could be transformed by  ‘foundation models’, the technology underpinning the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) — and we can build sovereign capability in this technology — says a new report by Australia's national science agency, the CSIRO.  
    "...
  2. Now at full speed, Fortescue’s new electric excavator has dug a million tonnes at Fortescue’s Chichester operations in the Pilbara, WA, and the mining company says it’s a massive milestone in its decarbonisation plan.
    For the past three months, it had been running at partial capacity while the site...
  3. For the past month, the Australian Army has been part of Project Convergence, a US-led campaign of learning through persistent experimentation testing. Its mission is to develop networks, robotic and autonomous systems, air defence and strike-related systems.
    Project Convergence was designed to...