Status of the Node 3 Regenerative ECLSS Water Recovery and Oxygen Generation Systems

Carrasquillo, Robyn L.

doi:10.4271/2003-01-2590

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The functions of a water recovery system (WRS) include wastewater collection; stabilization and storage; primary processing; secondary processing, including water recovery from brines; post processing, disinfection; and potable water storage (Figure 3). 9 On the ISS, the state-of-the-art WRS is limited to treating only urine and condensate, which may include hygiene water, laundry water and water recovered from brines and solid wastes. Urine is stabilized through the addition of pretreatment chemicals (chromium trioxide and sulfuric acid) at the waste collection system.…”

Section: A Background To Water Recovery On Issmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The other components are inorganic salts and organic components that can be removed by reverse osmosis or membranes. However, urea is significantly more difficult to remove and therefore many systems have been proposed and developed to decompose urea based on thermodynamic 7 , chemical 9 and biological methods. 11 Biological systems have advantages over other processes due to minimal use of energy and lower operating cost, and utilize microbial enzymes that are more active and stable than plant and animal enzyme systems.…”

Section: B Urea Decomposition To Ammoniamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Next Generation Water Recovery for a Sustainable Closed Loop Living

et al. 2021

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In order to facilitate extended human space travel, solutions and innovations are required to enable habitation in microgravity spacecraft habitats such as International space station (ISS), with limited supply availability. At present, the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) within the ISS recovers and recycles 90% of the water from human waste. However, their efficiency decreases during their lifetime owing to unmanageable process contaminants, requiring ground support to supply complex hazardous chemicals to treat these system components such that they maintain their targeted performance[i] ,[ii],[iii]. As human missions travel further into the solar system, the availability of ground support will be diminished. Therefore, next-generation systems to recycle water are required to reduce waste and improve system efficiency. Within this context, Faraday Technology Inc. and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) are developing a bio-electrochemical waste water treatment system. Within this system, a bioreactor will convert urea from the waste water to ammonia by hydrolysis:NH2(CO)NH2 + H2O → 2NH3 + CO2 (1)Next the effluent of the bioreactor will flow through the ammonia oxidation reactor:2NH3 → N2 + 3H2 (2)Thus, generating urea free waste water effluent for further filtration and enhancement. The developed technology has the potential to be compatible with existing ECLSS systems and be an integral part of the closed loop living systems required for long term life support on NASA’s manned space missions.Ongoing activity between Faraday Technology and UPR has demonstrated an 85% conversion of urea to ammonia in a bioreactor and a near complete conversion of ammonia in an electrochemical reactor in a laboratory set-up utilizing a synthetic urine electrolyte[iv] ,[v]. Based on the studies, Faraday has designed and built an alpha scale reactor to process 6 L volume of urine per day as per NASA specifications. The next step in reactor demonstration activities is to understand the effects of zero-gravity on the ammonia reactor. The electrochemical reactor and components are assembled in an electrochemical microgravity laboratory setup (Figure 1). Optimized conditions from ground-based performance data will be implemented during the zero-gravity flight test to evaluate the feasibility of ammonia oxidation in zero-gravity environment. The flight test is scheduled for May 2021.In this talk we will be discussing the ongoing developments at Faraday, where we have (1) leveraged existing knowledge to design and test the bio-electrochemical reactor under zero gravity conditions; (2) evaluated electrocatalyst for ammonia oxidation reactor; (3) optimized the electrocatalytic efficiency and waste water treatment rate with urine simulants; (4) designed and built a demonstration-scale bio-electrochemical reactor unit capable of meeting NASA required specifications; and (5) will be validating operation under zero gravity conditions during the May 2021 zero gravity test flight. Acknowledgements: The financial support o...

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Section: A Background To Water Recovery On Issmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: B Urea Decomposition To Ammoniamentioning

confidence: 99%

Next Generation Water Recovery for a Sustainable Closed Loop Living

et al. 2021

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“…The functions of a WRS are limited to treating only urine and condensate, which may include hygiene water, laundry water, and water recovered from brines and solid wastes. 4 Urine is stabilized through the addition of pretreatment chemicals (chromium trioxide and sulfuric acid) at the waste collection system. 5 Water is recovered from the pretreated urine by Vapor Compression Distillation (VCD).…”

Section: Environmental Control and Life Support System Aboard The Int...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Current techniques to recover water from urine utilize VCD that must be regularly cleaned with ground support chemicals and disinfectants. New thermodynamic, 8 chemical, 4 and biological 9 systems that accelerate decomposition of urea can improve water recovery and utilization from urine (95% water-2% urea). Biological systems utilizing microorganisms are stable and have advantages over other processes due to minimal use of energy and lower operating cost.…”

Section: Ammonia Oxidation For Urine Processingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrochemistry for Space Life Support

Nelson

Vijapur

Hall

et al. 2020

Electrochem. Soc. Interface

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Electrochemical technology plays a key role in maintaining habitable environments for human space exploration. Historically, oxygen generation through electrolysis has been a key electrochemical technology for space life support. However, emerging electrochemical technologies are changing the way we process carbon dioxide and urine to supply oxygen and fresh water. Similarly, electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide can support in-situ resource utilization to produce disinfectants for sanitary needs. These technologies will support space exploration that relies upon closed loop living and is increasingly independent of ground support, opening opportunities for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.

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“…Use of microfiltration (MF), low pressure reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes in a treatment train to wastewater treatment was provided [3]. This technology can achieve high removal efficiency, more than 95% for contaminants, high flux, and low fouling of the membranes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulation of a closed loop wastewater treatment system for extended space flight

Xia

Morse

Jackson

et al. 2008

2008 3rd IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications

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It is estimated that one liter water sent into space by shuttle expend $22,000, so the research for recycle of water is important to spaceflight. A pilot-scale, closed-loop water recycling system has been run to imitate wastewater produced by space crew. A mathematical model of the individual reactor based on plug flow, as well as system level simulation has been developed for nitrification and denitrification. Two important parameters, Monod constant and reactor efficiency constant, are discussed. The system simulation combines nitrification, denitrification, recycle, and degassing steps, and it accurately reproduces the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and total nitrogen (TN) variation observed experimentally at a 20/1 recycle ratio. Both experiments and simulations indicate that biological closed loop wastewater treatment system has significant potential for long-duration manned space flight.

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Status of the Node 3 Regenerative ECLSS Water Recovery and Oxygen Generation Systems

Cited by 13 publications

References 6 publications

Next Generation Water Recovery for a Sustainable Closed Loop Living

Next Generation Water Recovery for a Sustainable Closed Loop Living

Electrochemistry for Space Life Support

Simulation of a closed loop wastewater treatment system for extended space flight

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