Contaminant concentration and removal system using liquid sorbent

A method for removing a contaminant from an environment, comprising:

• receiving, by a gas separator, a cabin air stream from the environment as a feed gas stream;
• separating, using the gas separator, the cabin air stream into a diluted cabin air stream as a retentate stream and a concentrated cabin air stream as a permeant stream to concentrate the contaminant from the cabin air stream into the concentrated cabin air stream, wherein the concentrated cabin air stream has a higher concentration of the contaminant than the cabin air stream, and wherein the gas separator is configured to concentrate the contaminant in response to a pressure differential across one or more membranes of the gas separator;
• absorbing, by a scrubber-separator, the contaminant from the concentrated cabin air stream using a liquid sorbent to produce a clean air stream;
• discharging, by the scrubber-separator, the clean air stream to the environment;
• and
• desorbing, by a stripper-separator, the contaminant from the liquid sorbent to produce a contaminant stream.

A contaminant removal system for removing carbon dioxide from an environment, comprising:

• a gas separator configured to receive a cabin air stream from the environment and concentrate carbon dioxide from the cabin air stream to produce a concentrated cabin air stream, wherein the concentrated cabin air stream has a higher concentration of carbon dioxide than the cabin air stream, wherein the gas separator is configured to concentrate carbon dioxide in response to a pressure differential across one or more membranes of the gas separator, and wherein the one or more membranes of the gas separator are configured with a higher affinity for carbon dioxide than water;
• a scrubber-separator downstream of the gas separator and configured to absorb carbon dioxide from the concentrated cabin air stream into a liquid sorbent and discharge a clean air stream to the environment;
• and
• a stripper-separator downstream of the scrubber-separator and configured to desorb carbon dioxide from the liquid sorbent into a contaminant stream.