The reaction equation is:
CO₂ + 2LiOH → Li₂CO₃ + H₂O
First, we calculate the total amount of carbon dioxide that may be absorbed by the mass of LiOH that is present. This is done by first computing the moles of LiOH. The molecular weight of LiOH is 24 grams per mole.
Moles = 35,000 / 24
1,458 moles of LiOH
From the reaction equation, we see that the molar ratio between carbon dioxide and lithium hydroxide is:
1 : 2
So the moles of carbon dioxide that may be captured are:
1,458/2
729 moles of carbon dioxide may be captured.
Converting this to the mass of carbon dioxde, given that the molecular weight of carbon dioxide is 44 grams per mole,
mass = 729 * 44
32,076 grams of CO₂ may be captured.
This is the amount removable over 9 days, so the per day amount will be:
32,076 / 9
3,564 grams of CO₂ may be removed daily
Each astronaut produces 880 grams of CO₂ daily, so the number of astronauts that may be brought on board are:
3,564 / 880 = 4.05
4 astronauts may be taken on the mission.
