Progress in the Development of Direct Osmotic Concentration Wastewater Recovery Process for Advanced Life Support Systems

Direct osmotic concentration (DOC) has been identified as a potential technology for recycling of wastewater to drinking water in advanced life support (ALS) systems. As a result the DOC process has been selected for a NASA Rapid Technology Development Team (RTDT) effort. The current project focuses on advancing the development of this technology to a level appropriate for human rated testing. A new prototype of a DOC system is been designed and fabricated that addresses the deficiencies encountered during the testing of the original system and able to achieve a long-term and reliable operation.

Background information is provided about the technologies investigated and their capabilities, results from preliminary tests, and the milestones plan and activities for the RTDT program intended to develop a second generation prototype of the DOC system.