Urine Pretreatment Team

Mentors NASA/JSC Mentor: Dr Karen Pickering, EC3, JSC/NASA TAMU Faculty Mentor: Dr Robin Autenrieth, Civil Engineering Graduate Student Mentor: Julianna Camacho, PhD Candidate Student Team Members Moriah Thompson (BIEN), Sara Guest (CHEM), Marco Cienega ( ME), Elizabeth Joachim (BIEN), Blesson John ( BIEN), Sandia Ramesh ( BIEN), David Moore (Civil)

Project Summary The Urine Pretreatment Project (UPP) aims to aid in the achievement of the lunar outpost mission goals. The UPP objective is to improve urine pretreatment by finding a low toxicity, non-corrosive pretreatment agent. The current method of pretreatment is extremely toxic and would not be compatible with water reclamation needs. The new urine pretreatment agent would allow for the Waste Management Subsystem to be compatible with the Water Recovery and Management Subsystem. An improved urine pretreatment method is key for an enhanced water recovery system. In previous semesters, the team focused on pretreatment agents that would be compatible with a biological reclamation system because such systems reduce consumables and allow for the reuse of compounds in wastewater that can be used in crop fertilization. The chemicals selected had a pKa that would buffer pH between two and four for testing. The chemicals were tested to determine the potential pretreatment agent’s ability to meet pretreatment and water recovery requirements by monitoring the amount of ammonia, nitrate, protein, and Total Suspended Solids. Glycolic, acetic, pyruvic, and citric acids have all been tested and shown to be potential pretreatment agents based on the results from the pH measurements and protein concentrations. Further testing is required to determine whether one of these chemicals is more successful at preventing bacterial growth and precipitation or if there is a more suitable option. To align the team’s work more closely with NASA’s current needs, next year the team will focus on the pretreatment agent’s compatibility with a physical/chemical water reclamation process. The current water reclamation system being evaluated is distillation. The team will focus on the identification of low-toxic and non-volatile pretreatment agents that do not create oxidation products when heated. The pretreatment agent will be selected by their low relative volatility with respect to water. After the identification of the most effective pretreatment agent and process has been finalized, the team will focus on a new delivery system with low weight and volume for future missions. When these tasks have been completed, a successful wastewater reclamation system can be developed for implementation in long-term spaceflight applications. Finally, the current method of pretreatment is extremely toxic and would not be compatible with future biological reclamation needs. A urine pretreatment agent that allows for biological water recovery from urine would reduce consumables and allow for long term space endeavors. 2009 Spring Semester Report Pretreatment Report 2009 Spring Presentation Pretreatment Presentation 2008 Fall Presentation Pretreatment Presentation Website Vist the Urine Pretreatment Team's website at http://sei.tamu.edu/pretreatment