A Novel Reverse-Osmosis Wash Water Recycle System for Manned Space Stations

This paper describes the preliminary development of a wash water recycle system utilizing an inside-skinned hollow-fiber membrane developed by Bend Research, Inc. This module configuration is based on tube-side feed and is highly resistant to fouling with a minimum of pretreatment. During an ongoing research program for NASA, these modules were operated on actual wash waters with no significant fouling for a period of 40 days. Due to the tube-side-feed flow in these hollow-fiber membranes, the fibers themselves become the pressure vessels, allowing the development of extremely lightweight membrane modules. During the NASA research program, a pre-prototype membrane module capable of processing 6 gallons per day (2.3×10^-2m³/day) of wash water at 97% recovery was developed that can be dry-stored and that weighs 120 g.