High Pressure Rotating Reverse Osmosis for Wastewater Recycling in Long Term Space Missions

A promising technology for recycling wastewater on long term space missions is rotating reverse osmosis (RO). Rotating RO utilizes Taylor vortices, a flow structure in the annulus of the device, that provide increased transport of the water through the RO membrane compared to conventional RO systems. A high pressure rotating RO filter and fluid circuit have been designed and fabricated for use in long term tests. Preliminary results indicate that an increase in the operating pressure by a factor of three can improve the flux by a factor of four while maintaining high rejection of the contaminants.