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At least 73 records · Page 4

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NASA NTRS2009

Solid and Liquid Waste Drying Bag

Method and system for processing waste from human activities, including solids, liquids and vapors. A fluid-impermeable bag, lined with a liquid-impermeable but vapor-permeable membrane, defining an inner bag, is provided. A vacuum force is provided to extract vapors so that the waste is moved toward a selected region in the inner bag, extracted vapors, including the waste vapors and vaporized portions of the waste liquids are transported across the membrane, and most or all of the solids remain within the liner. Extracted vapors are filtered, and sanitized components thereof are isolated and optionally stored. The solids remaining within the liner are optionally dried and isolated for ultimate disposal.

Litwiller, Eric↗

NASA NTRS1989

Performance characterization of water recovery and water quality from chemical/organic waste products

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.

Moses, W. M.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Analysis of Water Recovery Rate from the Heat Melt Compactor

Human space missions generate trash with a substantial amount of plastic (20% or greater by mass). The trash also contains water trapped in food residue and paper products and other trash items. The Heat Melt Compactor (HMC) under development by NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) compresses the waste, dries it to recover water and melts the plastic to encapsulate the compressed trash. The resulting waste disk or puck represents an approximately ten-fold reduction in the volume of the initial trash loaded into the HMC. In the current design concept being pursued, the trash is compressed by a piston after it is loaded into the trash chamber. The piston face, the side walls of the waste processing chamber and the end surface in contact with the waste can be heated to evaporate the water and to melt the plastic. Water is recovered by the HMC in two phases. The first is a pre-process compaction without heat or with the heaters initially turned on but before the waste heats up. Tests have shown that during this step some liquid water may be expelled from the chamber. This water is believed to be free water (i.e., not bound with or absorbed in other waste constituents) that is present in the trash. This phase is herein termed Phase A of the water recovery process. During HMC operations, it is desired that liquid water recovery in Phase A be eliminated or minimized so that water-vapor processing equipment (e.g., condensers) downstream of the HMC are not fouled by liquid water and its constituents (i.e., suspended or dissolved matter) exiting the HMC. The primary water recovery process takes place next where the trash is further compacted while the heated surfaces reach their set temperatures for this step. This step will be referred to herein as Phase B of the water recovery process. During this step the waste chamber may be exposed to different selected pressures such as ambient, low pressure (e.g., 0.2 atm), or vacuum. The objective for this step is to remove both bound and any remaining free water in the trash by evaporation. The temperature settings of the heated surfaces are usually kept above the saturation temperature of water but below the melting temperature of the plastic in the waste during this step to avoid any encapsulation of wet trash which would reduce the amount of recovered water by blocking the vapor escape. In this paper, we analyze the water recovery rate during Phase B where the trash is heated and water leaves the waste chamber as vapor, for operation of the HMC in reduced gravity. We pursue a quasi-one-dimensional model with and without sidewall heating to determine the water recovery rate and the trash drying time. The influences of the trash thermal properties, the amount of water loading, and the distribution of the water in the trash on the water recovery rates are determined.

Heat Melt Compactor↗

NASA NTRS2002

Requirements Development Issues for Advanced Life Support Systems: Solid Waste Management

Long duration missions pose substantial new challenges for solid waste management in Advanced Life Support (ALS) systems. These possibly include storing large volumes of waste material in a safe manner, rendering wastes stable or sterilized for extended periods of time, and/or processing wastes for recovery of vital resources. This is further complicated because future missions remain ill-defined with respect to waste stream quantity, composition and generation schedule. Without definitive knowledge of this information, development of requirements is hampered. Additionally, even if waste streams were well characterized, other operational and processing needs require clarification (e.g. resource recovery requirements, planetary protection constraints). Therefore, the development of solid waste management (SWM) subsystem requirements for long duration space missions is an inherently uncertain, complex and iterative process. The intent of this paper is to address some of the difficulties in writing requirements for missions that are not completely defined. This paper discusses an approach and motivation for ALS SWM requirements development, the characteristics of effective requirements, and the presence of those characteristics in requirements that are developed for uncertain missions. Associated drivers for life support system technological capability are also presented. A general means of requirements forecasting is discussed, including successive modification of requirements and the need to consider requirements integration among subsystems.

Levri, Julie A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

To Produce Nutrients for Plant Growth

On July 1, 1979 a new research program entitled "Development of a Prototype Experiment for Treating CELSS and PCELSS Wastes to Produce Nutrients for Plant Growth" was undertaken by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Georgia Institute of Technology under grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center. The program was designed to be completed over a five-year period, with the work divided into two phases. Phase I covers approximately two years and involves the development of necessary facilities, chemical methodologies and models to allow meaningful experiments during Phase II, which will involve interfacing waste oxidation with plant growth. Homogeneous samples of freeze-dried human feces and urine have been prepared to assure comparability of results among various CELSS waste treatment research groups. A model of food processing wastes within a PCELSS was developed, and an initial batch of waste was prepared. An automated gas chromatographic system to analyze oxidizer effluents was designed and is operational. A state-of-the-art quantitative elemental analysis capability, built around inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy and atomic absorption spectroscopy using electrothermal atomization, has been demonstrated. A continuous flow wet oxidation system was constructed and is now operational.

Michael Modell↗

NASA NTRS1994

Forming Weld Lands On Metal Plates

Forming shoe pounds edge of newly inserted plate workpiece. After many passes of shoe and advances of plate, thick land builds up at edge. Workpiece heated to enable metal to flow without strain hardening. Proposed upset-forming process replaces relatively expensive, time-consuming, and wasteful process in which integral weld lands created by machining metal away from plates everywhere except at lands.

Weddendorf, Bruce↗

NASA NTRS2012

Constructing COMSOL Models of a Bacteriological Fuel Cell

We show very initial work on a specific bioelectrochemical system (BES), a bacteriologically driven 'fuel cell' (BFS), that is intended to process waste products, such as CO2 and brine. (1) Processing is the priority, not power generation (2) Really a Microbial Electrolysis Cell (MEC)

Coker, Robert↗

NASA NTRS1979

Process for purification of waste water produced by a Kraft process pulp and paper mill

The water from paper and pulp wastes obtained from a mill using the Kraft process is purified by precipitating lignins and lignin derivatives from the waste stream with quaternary ammonium compounds, removing other impurities by activated carbon produced from the cellulosic components of the water, and then separating the water from the precipitate and solids. The activated carbon also acts as an aid to the separation of the water and solids. If recovery of lignins is also desired, then the precipitate containing the lignins and quaternary ammonium compounds is dissolved in methanol. Upon acidification, the lignin is precipitated from the solution. The methanol and quaternary ammonium compound are recovered for reuse from the remainder.

Humphrey, M. F.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Thermal energy storage for industrial waste heat recovery

Thermal energy storage systems designed for energy conservation through the recovery, storage, and reuse of industrial process waste heat are reviewed. Consideration is given to systems developed for primary aluminum, cement, the food processing industry, paper and pulp, and primary iron and steel. Projected waste-heat recovery and energy savings are listed for each category.

Hoffman, H. W.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Treatment of CELSS and PCELSS waste to produce nutrients for plant growth

The research program entitled 'Development of a Prototype Experiment for Treating CELSS (Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems) and PCELSS (Partially Controlled Ecological Life Support Systems) Wastes to Produce Nutrients for Plant Growth' consists of two phases: (1) the development of the neccessary facilities, chemical methodologies and models for meaningful experimentation, and (2) the application of what methods and devices are developed to the interfacing of waste oxidation with plant growth. Homogeneous samples of freeze-dried human feces and urine have been prepared to ensure comparability of test results between CELSS waste treatment research groups. A model of PCELSS food processing wastes has been developed, and an automated gas chromatographic system to analyze oxidizer effluents was designed and brought to operational status. Attention is given the component configuration of the wet oxidation system used by the studies.

Modell, M.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Landform Evolution Modeling of Sedimentary Processes on Icy Worlds: the Cases of Hyperion and Helene

Sedimentary activity (erosion, transportation and deposition) is a major landscape-shaping process on many icy worlds of the outer solar system for which an understanding of this process is central to their geologic characterizations. Several recent studies, lead by the authors, have identified the effects of sedimentary activity on icy satellite landforms and recognized the role of mass wasting and volatile loss and redistribution in the evolution of these features. We apply state of the art, physics based, landform evolution modeling to icy satellite sedimentary landforms in order to fully quantitatively characterize how their morphologies change with time, and what their present appearances imply for the initial abundance and distribution of loose material, volatiles, and refractories in original pristine landforms. We will present results of our landform evolution modeling to the development of the landscapes of the Saturnian moons of Hyperion and Helene. Our current conclusions for Hyperion are that its unique appearance can be explained in part by the loss to space of ballistic ejecta during impact events. In order to create the smooth surfaces and the reticulate, honeycomb pattern of narrow divides between old craters, appreciable subsequent modification of crater morphology must occur through mass-wasting processes accompanied by sublimation, probably facilitated by the loss of CO2 as a component of the relief-supporting matrix of the bedrock. This mass wasting effectively destroys small craters, at least in part accounting for the paucity of sub-kilometer craters on Hyperion. Helene’s unusual morphology consists of broad depressions (modified large craters) and a generally smooth surface patterned with streaks and grooves. The streaks appear to be oriented down-gradient, as are the grooves. This pattern suggests intensive mass-wasting as a dominant process. Our initial modeling of this surface suggests a Bingham-like rheological behavior for the loose down-slope moving material. Interestingly, as a Bingham flow, the models indicate that aperiodic "intermittent" behavior to be present, suggesting that periods of quiet steady landform evolution are punctuated short periods of active surface readjustment.

Saturnian moons↗

NASA NTRS2005

Impact Crater Deposits in the Martian Highlands

The martian highlands of Noachis Terra (20-30 deg S, 20-50 deg E), Tyrrhena Terra (0-30 deg S, 50- 100 deg E) and Terra Cimmeria (0-60 deg S, 120-170 deg E) preserve long and complex histories of degradation, but the relative effects of such factors as fluvial, eolian, and mass wasting processes have not been well constrained. The effects of this degradation are best observed on large (D greater than 10 km) impact craters that characterize the ancient highlands. Some craters exhibit distinct interior deposits, but precise origins of these deposits are enigmatic; infilling may occur by sedimentary (e.g., fluvial, lacustrine, eolian), mass wasting and (or) volcanic processes.

Mest, S. C.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Mars Rocket Propulsion System

A report discusses the methane and carbon monoxide/LOX (McLOx) rocket for ascent from Mars as well as other critical space propulsion tasks. The system offers a specific impulse over 370 s roughly 50 s higher than existing space-storable bio-propellants. Current Mars in-situ propellant production (ISPP) technologies produce impure methane and carbon monoxide in various combinations. While separation and purification of methane fuel is possible, it adds complexity to the propellant production process and discards an otherwise useful fuel product. The McLOx makes such complex and wasteful processes unnecessary by burning the methane/CO mixtures produced by the Mars ISPP systems without the need for further refinement. Despite the decrease in rocket-specific impulse caused by the CO admixture, the improvement offered by concomitant increased propellant density can provide a net improvement in stage performance. One advantage is the increase of the total amount of propellant produced, but with a decrease in mass and complexity of the required ISPP plant. Methane/CO fuel mixtures also may be produced by reprocessing the organic wastes of a Moon base or a space station, making McLOx engines key for a human Lunar initiative or the International Space Station (ISS) program. Because McLOx propellant components store at a common temperature, very lightweight and compact common bulkhead tanks can be employed, improving overall stage performance further.

Zubrin, Robert↗

NASA NTRS1998

Status of Regenerative Life Support Research and Technology Program at NASA Ames Research Center

Future long duration manned space missions will require life support systems that minimize resupply requirements and ultimately approach self-sufficiency in space. This presentation will provide an overview of the Advanced Life Support program unclassified fundamental research and technology development activities being conducted at NASA Ames Research Center. Top level program goals and technical objectives, and the role of NASA-Ames within the Advanced Life Support program, will be reviewed. The presentation will focus on FY97 and FY98 research tasks that were directed at physicochemical processes with emphasis on system closure and self-sufficiency. Research areas include solid waste processing and resource recovery, water recycling, air regeneration, and regenerative system dynamics. Proposed future work and potential applications of this research to both terrestrial and space closed ecology experimentation in space will be addressed.

Kliss, Mark↗

NASA NTRS2010

Impact of Water Recovery from Wastes on the Lunar Surface Mission Water Balance

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.

Fisher, John W.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Central Africa Energy: Utilizing NASA Earth Observations to Explore Flared Gas as an Energy Source Alternative to Biomass in Central Africa

Much of Central Africa's economy is centered on oil production. Oil deposits lie below vast amounts of compressed natural gas. The latter is often flared off during oil extraction due to a lack of the infrastructure needed to utilize it for productive energy generation. Though gas flaring is discouraged by many due to its contributions to greenhouse emissions, it represents a waste process and is rarely tracked or recorded in this region. In contrast to this energy waste, roughly 80% of Africa's population lacks access to electricity and in turn uses biomass such as wood for heat and light. In addition to the dangers incurred from collecting and using biomass, the practice commonly leads to ecological change through the acquisition of wood from forests surrounding urban areas. The objective of this project was to gain insight on domestic energy usage in Central Africa, specifically Angola, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo. This was done through an analysis of deforestation, an estimation of gas flared, and a suitability study for the infrastructure needed to realize the natural gas resources. The energy from potential natural gas production was compared to the energy equivalent of the biomass being harvested. A site suitability study for natural gas pipeline routes from flare sites to populous locations was conducted to assess the feasibility of utilizing natural gas for domestic energy needs. Analyses and results were shared with project partners, as well as this project's open source approach to assessing the energy sector. Ultimately, Africa's growth demands energy for its people, and natural gas is already being produced by the flourishing petroleum industry in numerous African countries. By utilizing this gas, Africa could reduce flaring, recuperate the financial and environmental loss that flaring accounts for, and unlock a plentiful domestic energy source for its people. II. Introduction Background Africa is home to numerous burgeoning economies; a significant number rely on oil production as their primary source of revenue. Relative to its size and population density, the continent has a wealth of natural resources, including oil and natural gas deposits. The exploration of these resources is not a new endeavor, but rather one that spans decades, up to a century in some places. Their resources, if realized, could provide a great means of economic and social mobility for the people of Africa. Currently, Africa represents about 12 % of the energy market, yet at the same time, consumes only 3 % of the world's energy (Kasekende 2009). The higher

Jones, Amber↗

NASA NTRS2017

Water Walls for Life Support

A method and associated system for processing waste gases, liquids and solids, produced by human activity, to separate (i) liquids suitable for processing to produce potable water, (ii) solids and liquids suitable for construction of walls suitable for enclosing a habitat volume and for radiation shielding, and (iii) other fluids and solids that are not suitable for processing. A forward osmosis process and a reverse osmosis process are sequentially combined to reduce fouling and to permit accumulation of different processable substances. The invention may be used for long term life support of human activity.

Flynn, Michael T.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

The membrane bioreactor (MBR): A hybrid technology for bioregenerative wastewater treatment and resource recovery in space

Extraplanetary surface habitat life support systems (LSS) on the Moon and Mars, as well as long-duration space travel, will require novel capabilities to withstand anticipated unique, harsh conditions. In order to provide safe, habitable environments for the crew, water purification and waste processing systems will be required to treat all sources of water (condensate, Sabatier, urine, hygiene, fecal, food waste) in order to achieve the necessary levels of recovery needed to sustain life over the long-duration missions. The ability to recycle organic wastes creates an opportunity to recover critical elements (e.g., C, H, O, N, P) for subsequent food production, water purification, and atmospheric regeneration. Bioregenerative systems mimic functions of nature in engineered systems, or bioreactors, utilizing combination of prokaryotes, eukaryotes and archaea. While these systems are commonly used on Earth for wastewater treatment, bioreactors for space travel face additional challenges. Terrestrial bioreactors often rely on gravitational settling of dense flocs and granules for cell retention. For micro- or partial-gravity environments, density differential alone will not be adequate for cell retention; a gravity-independent means for cell retention is crucial. The membrane bioreactor represents the state of the art in wastewater treatment. This hybrid system combines biological processes with membrane filtration to achieve performance beyond what each can accomplish individually. The complete cell retention in an MBR allows for the decoupling of hydraulic retention time (HRT) and solids retention time (SRT), which result in a high-thruput, compact, treatment system. The Bioregenerative Water Technology Team at NASA Kennedy Space Center and the University of South Florida has developed a bioregenerative platform based on the hybrid MBR technology. The overall architecture is compact, modular, flexible, and adaptable to mission evolutions. The main subsystems of the bioregenerative architecture include: 1) Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR): Also termed the Organic processor assembly (OPA), the function of the AnMBR is to treat organic wastes such as fecal and food wastes. These wastes are characterized by a concentration of suspended solids comprised of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. The assigned function of the AnMBR is to break down and covert suspended solids to biogas (methane, hydrogen and carbon dioxide), reduce effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD), liberate organically-bound nutrients, and remove pathogenic organisms. 2) Phototrophic membrane bioreactor (PMBR): The PMBR is comprised of a co-culture of microalgae and bacteria. The assigned function of the PMBR is to polish the permeate of the AnMBR to further remove dissolved organic carbon, manage nutrients (nitrogen transformation, load dampening), and perform air revitalization. 3) Food processor assembly (FPA): The FPA is a food production platform (prokaryotic or eukaryotic), fueled by outputs from the AnMBR, or PMBR. For the presentation, we will describe each step of the bioregenerative architecture, and present performance data from extended trials treating analog and real metabolic wastes.

Bioreactor↗