Urine Pretreatment for Waste Water Processing Systems

Winkler, H. Eugene; Verostko, Charles E.; Dehner, G. F.

doi:10.4271/831113

Cited by 11 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Dupont TM Oxone® is an oxidizing and disinfecting compound (predominately potassium monopersulfate) used by NASA for urine pretreatment aboard spacecraft. The pretreatment is designed to lower the pH of the urine to as low as 3 and prevent bacterial growth from proliferating and producing the enzyme urease which contributes to the formation of ammonia gas and ammonium through the hydrolysis of urea 10 . The hydrolysis process raises the pH of the urine, which reacts with other chemicals in the urine to form precipitates, primarily struvite 11 .…”

Section: Urinementioning

confidence: 99%

A Sustainable Regolith-Based Water Recovery Concept for the Lunar Outpost

Thomas

Leidich

Klaus

2009

SAE Technical Paper Series

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Engineering Meetings Board has approved this paper for publication. It has successfully completed SAE's peer review process under the supervision of the session organizer. This process requires a minimum of three (3) reviews by industry experts. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of SAE. ABSTRACTA long-term lunar outpost will require sustainable life support technologies that are capable of functioning for years with minimum resupply and maintenance. While life support resources such as water and air will remain in short supply, the availability of gravity, energy, and natural resources on the lunar surface allow for innovation in the design of outpost technologies, potentially including the adoption of terrestrial technologies previously not feasible for short duration microgravity flight.One technology with potential for such innovation is the water recovery system. Current spacecraft water recovery systems rely on oxidizing pretreatment chemicals to stabilize wastewater, as microgravity compatible distillation or filtration systems are prone to fouling and failure.Instead, the lunar outpost may consider using simple and robust terrestrial technologies such as media filters and solar disinfection, and distillation to recover water, taking advantage of the ready availability of lunar regolith, gravity, and solar energy. Therefore, rather than stabilizing wastewater such as urine for disposal, the wastewater could be encouraged to foul the media and form biofilms and precipitates that can then be filtered and the water reclaimed for future use.

show abstract

Section: Urinementioning

confidence: 99%

A Sustainable Regolith-Based Water Recovery Concept for the Lunar Outpost

Thomas

Leidich

Klaus

2009

SAE Technical Paper Series

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Impact of wastewater fouling on contact angle

Thomas

Muirhead

2009

Biofouling

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Capillary dependent systems are highly influenced by surface fouling and may degrade as material surface properties change. In anticipation of a spacecraft microgravity fluids management system exposed to highly variable wetting conditions, the impact of urine wastewater fouling on capillary contact angle was examined. The results indicate that, in general, surface fouling can decrease the contact angle when crystalline structures or biofilms form. Small crystalline growth on the order of 10 mm can lower advancing contact angles y adv by approximately 308, while biofilm growth can lower it by approximately 158. Vacuum drying of fouled surfaces increased y adv by about 88, and defects greater in height than 5% of the capillary length increased y adv by approximately 308. These trends may indicate that promotion of wastewater fouling may improve the performance of capillary dependent fluids management systems. These results may also influence terrestrial technologies, including medical catheters and sustainable wastewater treatment systems exposed to wastewater fouling.

show abstract