Ultrapure Water System at JSC for High Purity Cleaning of Flight Hardware, Astromaterial Handling Tools and Solar Wind Samples
Use of Ultrapure Water (UPW) for cleaning of astromaterial sample handling tools and containers was driven by the discontinuation of Freon 113 as a cleaning solvent, due to environmental concerns. Freon 113, recycled using distillation, was very effective at removing organic residues from sample handling hardware. The initial switch to high purity water for astromaterial tool cleaning was modeled after efforts at White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) and current semiconductor UPW production practices in the early 1990s. JSC curation’s first system was comprised of ion exchange polishing cylinders, 55 gallon PVDF-lined storage tank, a few tens of feet of PVDF piping, UV and particle filtration, and this system supported cleaning for lunar, meteorite and Cosmic Dust collectors lab operations. By 2000 a major expansion and upgrade was providing UPW of quality E-1 (ASTM D5127-90) or better at 10 gpm for cleaning of the Genesis solar wind payload for flight, in addition to sample handling tools for other astromaterials. This expansion included a 1000 gallon storage tank and several hundred feet of PVDF piping located in B. 31 and 31N. An extra reverse osmosis process unit was added to incoming water in 2005. Subsequently several major components were replaced, and in anticipation of adding new labs, an enlarged UPW system was designed in 2018 and completed in 2019. This system produces grade E1.1 UPW at 15 gpm in a continuous 1100 ft. loop with 5000 gal. storage tank, supplying 8 laboratories.