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A recombinant Moringa oleifera coagulant protein (MO) produced and secreted by Bacillus has coagulation/flocculation activity. The MO protein and the Bacillus host cells expressing the MO protein can be used in compositions and methods for treating contaminated water, such as drinking water or waste water. The MO protein can coagulate or flocculate suspended solid impurities in the water, which can then be removed.
The requirement for accurate, precise, and rapid analytical procedures for the examination of water and waste samples requires the use of a variety of instruments. The instrumentation in water laboratories includes atomic absorption, UV-visible. and infrared spectrophotometers, automatic colorimetric analyzers, gas chromatographs and mass spectrometers. Because of the emphasis on regulatory action, attention is being directed toward quality control of analytical results. Among the challenging problems are the differentiation of metallic species in water at nanogram concentrations, rapid measurement of free cyanide and free ammonia, more sensitive methods for arsenic and selenium and improved characterization of organic contaminants.
Some of the aerospace developments in solid waste disposal and water purification, which are applicable to specific domestic problems are explored. Also provided is an overview of the management techniques used in defining the need, in utilizing the available tools, and in synthesizing a solution. Specifically, several water recovery processes will be compared for domestic applicability. Examples are filtration, distillation, catalytic oxidation, reverse osmosis, and electrodialysis. Solid disposal methods will be discussed, including chemical treatment, drying, incineration, and wet oxidation. The latest developments in reducing household water requirements and some concepts for reusing water will be outlined.
A shower test was conducted recently at NASA-JSC in which waste water was reclaimed and reused. Test subjects showered in a prototype whole body shower following a protocol similar to that anticipated for Space Station. The waste water was purified using reverse osmosis followed by filtration through activated carbon and ion exchange resin beds. The reclaimed waste water was maintained free of microorganisms by using both heat and iodine. This paper discusses the test results, including the limited effectiveness of using iodine as a disinfectant and the evaluation of a Space Station candidate soap for showering. In addition, results are presented on chemical and microbial impurity content of water samples obtained from various locations in the water recovery process.
Effects of various diets and simulated space conditions on human waste and water consumption applied to life support system development
The presentation and supporting information provide data on the performance of an engineering-scale cross-flow heat exchanger used in hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). Temperature profiles are provide for the process of waste water treatment sludges and a food waste. The data can be used to model larger-scale heat exchangers used in HTL.
Future extended lunar surface missions will require extensive recovery of resources to reduce mission costs and enable self-sufficiency. Water is of particular importance due to its potential use for human consumption and hygiene, general cleaning, clothes washing, radiation shielding, cooling for extravehicular activity suits, and oxygen and hydrogen production. Various water sources are inherently present or are generated in lunar surface missions, and subject to recovery. They include: initial water stores, water contained in food, human and other solid wastes, wastewaters and associated brines, ISRU water, and scavenging from residual propellant in landers. This paper presents the results of an analysis of the contribution of water recovery from life support wastes on the overall water balance for lunar surface missions. Water in human wastes, metabolic activity and survival needs are well characterized and dependable figures are available. A detailed life support waste model was developed that summarizes the composition of life support wastes and their water content. Waste processing technologies were reviewed for their potential to recover that water. The recoverable water in waste is a significant contribution to the overall water balance. The value of this contribution is discussed in the context of the other major sources and loses of water. Combined with other analyses these results provide guidance for research and technology development and down-selection.
When construction of Space Station Freedom reaches the Permanent Manned Capability (PMC) stage, the Water Recovery and Management Subsystem will be fully operational such that (distilled) urine, spent hygiene water, and humidity condensate will be reclaimed to provide water of potable quality. The reclamation technologies currently baselined to process these waste waters include adsorption, ion exchange, catalytic oxidation, and disinfection. To ensure that the baseline technologies will be able to effectively remove those compounds presenting a health risk to the crew, the National Research Council has recommended that additional information be gathered on specific contaminants in waste waters representative of those to be encountered on the Space Station. With the application of new analytical methods and the analysis of waste water samples more representative of the Space Station environment, advances in the identification of the specific contaminants continue to be made. Efforts by the Water and Food Analytical Laboratory at JSC were successful in enlarging the database of contaminants in humidity condensate. These efforts have not only included the chemical characterization of condensate generated during ground-based studies, but most significantly the characterization of cabin and Spacelab condensate generated during Shuttle missions. The analytical results presented in this paper will be used to show how the composition of condensate varies amongst enclosed environments and thus the importance of collecting condensate from an environment close to that of the proposed Space Station. Although advances were made in the characterization of space condensate, complete characterization, particularly of the organics, requires further development of analytical methods.
Effects of various diets and simulated space conditions on human waste and water consumption applied to life support system development
Purification of water from metabolic waste
The performance of a waste water reclamation system is monitored by introducing a non-pathogenic marker virus, bacteriophage F2, into the waste-water prior to treatment and, thereafter, testing the reclaimed water for the presence of the marker virus. A test sample is first concentrated by absorbing any marker virus onto a cellulose acetate filter in the presence of a trivalent cation at low pH and then flushing the filter with a limited quantity of a glycine buffer solution to desorb any marker virus present on the filter. Photo-optical detection of indirect passive immune agglutination by polystyrene beads indicates the performance of the water reclamation system in removing the marker virus. A closed system provides for concentrating any marker virus, initiating and monitoring the passive immune agglutination reaction, and then flushing the system to prepare for another sample.
It is shown that the modular integrated utility systems (MIUS) concept (combining the utility services of electrical power, heating and cooling, water supply and waste water treatment, and solid waste management into a single local plant) can be applied to community-size developments with major benefits of energy (fossil fuels) savings, reduction in solid waste haul-off quantity, and reduction in fresh water demand. Compared to a conventional utilities system, MIUS energy and water savings are found to reach 38 and 17%, respectively. Effluent and solid waste load reduction attain 17 and 80%, respectively. These benefits are obtainable through use of commercially available hardware and at costs competitive with conventional utilities.
Integrated waste collection and purification system using radioisotopes for thermal energy in 180-day space mission life support system
A microgravity whole body shower (WBS) and waste water recovery systems (WWRS) were evaluated in three separate closed loop tests. Following a protocol similar to that anticipated for the U.S. Space Station, test subjects showered in a prototype whole body shower. The WWRS processes evaluated during the test series were phase change and reverse osmosis (RO). A preprototype Thermoelectric Integrated Hollow Fiber Membrane Evaporation Subsystem phase change process was used for the initial test with chemical pretreatment of the shower water waste input. The second and third tests concentrated on RO technologies. The second test evaluated a dynamic RO membrane consisting of zirconium oxide polyacrylic acid (ZOPA) membranes deposited on the interior diameter of 316L porous stainless steel tubes while the final test employed a thin semipermeable RO membrane deposited on the interior surface of polysulfone hollow fibers. All reclaimed water was post-treated for purity using ion exchange and granular activated carbon beds immediately followed by microbial control treatment using both heat and iodine. The test hardware, controls exercised for whole body showering, types of soaps evaluated, shower subject response to reclaimed water showering, and shower water collection and chemical pretreatment (if required) for microbial control are described. The WWRS recovered water performance and the effectiveness of the reclaimed water post-treatment techniques used for maintaining water purity and microorganism control are compared. Results on chemical and microbial impurity content of the water samples obtained from various locations in the shower water reuse system are summarized.
A bioaquatic air pollution control system for controlling both water and atmospheric pollution is disclosed. The pollution control system includes an exhaust for directing polluted gases out of a furnace and a fluid circulating system which circulates fluid, such as waste water, from a source, past the furnace where the fluid flow entrains the pollutants from the furnace. The combined fluid and pollutants are then directed through a rock/plant/microbial filtering system. A suction pump pumps the treated waste water from the filter system past the exhaust to again entrain more pollutants from the furnace where they are combined with the fluid (waste water) and directed to the filter system.
The water reclamation subsystems currently being evaluated for the Space Shuttle Freedom are briefly reviewed with emphasis on a waste water management system capable of processing wastes containing high concentrations of organic/inorganic materials. The process combines low temperature/pressure to vaporize water with high temperature catalytic oxidation to decompose volatile organics. The reclaimed water is of potable quality and has high potential for maintenance under sterile conditions. Results from preliminary experiments and modifications in process and equipment required to control reliability and repeatability of system operation are presented.
This project sought to evaluate the technical and economic viability of the Aquapod©, a transformational low energy (<200 kJ/kg water) waste heat coupled forward osmosis (FO) technology, to manage effluents, meet cooling water demands, and achieve water conservation in a coal-fired power plant environment. The Aquapod© process is innovative because it is heat-driven, avoids the evaporation of water, and uses no toxic chemicals such as ammonia or amines. The Aquapod© process accomplishes this using an aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) coupled FO process. The evaluation revealed that the Aquapod© process offers a pathway to exploit waste heat resources within a power plant to achieve flue-gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater volume reduction and water recovery with minimal pretreatment. Water recovery of 80% from FGD wastewater was achieved with minimal pretreatment, exceeding the project target of 50%. The estimated electrical energy of 2.16 kWh/m 3 of water produced for the Aquapod© process met the project target of < 3.6 kWh/m 3 . The heat required for the process operation was approximately 186 kJ/kg of produced water, which was slightly lower than the project target of 200 kJ/kg. The estimated treatment cost for installing and operating the Aquapod© process in conjunction with a spray dryer evaporator to achieve zero-liquid discharge (ZLD) of the 100 gpm FGD wastewater was $13.24/m 3 over a 30-year lifetime. As a point of reference, this study’s host power plant currently incurs a cost of $3.70/m 3 – $8.87/m3 on a discharged volume basis to discharge its wastewater into the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) after physical-chemical treatment. Therefore, the Illinois power plant would incur an incremental cost increase of $4.37/m 3 – 9.54/m 3 to achieve ZLD using the Aquapod© and spray dryer combination. Ample opportunities exist to further lower the ZLD capital and operating costs in the next design iteration to attain pipe parity at the higher end of the site treatment costs.
Electrooxidation is a means of removing organic solutes directly from waste waters without the use of chemical expendables. The feasibility of the concept for oxidation of organic impurities common to urine, shower waters and space habitat humidity condensates was demonstrated. Electrooxidation of urine and waste water ersatz was experimentally demonstrated. The electrooxidation principle, reaction kinetics, efficiency, power, size, experimental test results and water reclamation applications are described. Process operating potentials and the use of anodic oxidation potentials that are sufficiently low to avoid oxygen formation and chloride oxidation are also described. The design of a novel electrochemical system that incorporates a proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyte is presented based on parametric test data and current fuel cell technology.