ISS Freon Spill Clean-up
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 14 May 2008
“Afterwards, Kononenko collected air samples in the SM & FGB using the AK-1M sampler kit, recording date, time & location and restowing the kits and pouches. Special AK-1M samples for Freon-218 were also taken in the SM. … ANITA is now back up again and running in support of the on-going Freon-218 scrubbing from the cabin air, collecting data every six seconds and downlinking the data daily to the ground team.”
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 13 May 2008
“In order to assist in atmosphere scrubbing after the Freon-218 (Khladon) spill from the SKV-2 air conditioner on 4/24, the BMP’s regeneration cycle was moded to 5 days instead of the regular 20 days.”
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 10 May 2008
“The Freon spill (~600 g) occurred on 4/29 after the replacement of the SKV-2 air conditioner compressor. To clean up quickly, the Russian BMP (Russian Harmful Impurities Removal System) was moded to regenerate its absorbent beds every 5 days instead of the regular 20 days.”
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 2 May 2008
“FE-1 Oleg Kononenko serviced the Russian BMP (Harmful Impurities Removal System), starting the “bake-out” cycle to vacuum on absorbent bed #2 of the regenerable dual-channel filtration system. The regen process will be terminated tonight at ~5:15pm EDT. [Regeneration of each of the two cartridges takes about 12 hours and is conducted only during crew awake periods. Filter bed 1 was regenerated yesterday. In order to assist in atmosphere scrubbing after last Tuesday’s (4/29) Freon-218 spill from the SKV-2 air conditioner, the BMP’s regeneration cycle was moded to 5 days instead of the regular 20 days.”
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 1 May 2008
“Volkov completed the periodic servicing of the active Russian BMP (Harmful Impurities Removal System) by starting the “bake-out” cycle to vacuum on absorbent bed #1 of the regenerable dual-channel filtration system. The regen process will be terminated before sleeptime, at ~4:55pm EDT. Regeneration of bed #2 follows tomorrow. [Regeneration of each of the two cartridges takes about 12 hours and is conducted only during crew awake periods. In order to assist in atmosphere scrubbing after last Thursday’s Freon-218 spill from the SKV-2 air conditioner, the BMP’s regeneration cycle was moded to 5 days instead of the regular 20 days+. With about 1 g/m3 concentration, the pollutant stayed an order of magnitude under the SMAC (Spacecraft Maximum Allowable Concentration) level. Since SKV-2 remains off until fresh Freon-218 can be delivered on Progress 29P (and SKV-1 nonfunctional), plans are to do condensate processing with the air conditioner’s condensate evacuation pump (NOK-2) which, being an untested configuration, should go into operation next week.]”
NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 30 April 2008
“SKV-2 R&R Update: Yesterday, during the IFM (Inflight Maintenance) on the Russian SKV-2 air conditioner to replace its compressor with a spare, a Freon-218 spill occurred, releasing about 600 g of the refrigerant into the cabin (~1gram/cubic meter). To clean up quickly, the Russian BMP (Russian Harmful Impurities Removal System) was moded to regenerate its absorbent beds every 5 days instead of the regular 20 days, and all users have verified that no equipment on board is operating with internal temperatures above 600 degC (which would degrade the chemical). The US TCCS (Trace Contaminant Control System) operates nominally. [Freon-218 (Octafluoropropane/C3F8, Russian: Khladon) is safe (low toxicity, perhaps some irritation) and noncorrosive. Primary hazard is oxygen displacement, as witness the Ozone Layer, but there is not enough C3F8 on board the ISS to significantly deplete any atmospheric oxygen.]”
