How Long Can a SUBMARINE AIR SUPPLY Last SUBMERGED?
A nuclear submarine’s operational capability is limited by its food supply. Submarines have the ability to make its own oxygen by using electrolysis to disassociate water into oxygen and hydrogen. Oxygen is compressed into storage banks for bleeding into the boat as needed. The hydrogen is pumped overboard. We can also burn oxygen candles (sodium perchlorate) to produce oxygen. The production of oxygen is only half of the equation since we need to get rid of atmospheric contaminants also. Carbon Dioxide is scrubbed from the atmosphere with the use of amine, which absorbs CO2 when cool and dissorbs it when heated. CO2 can also be removed from the atomsphere with LiOH pellets. CO and H2 (from lead acid storage battery not the production of O2) are removed from the atmosphere with a burner. The burner is a heated catalyst. Particulate matter is removed with electrostatic precipitators. All that said the main way a submerged submarine replenishes its air supply and gets rid of atmospheric
