A Membrane-Based Subsystem for Very High Recoveries of Spacecraft Waste Waters

This paper describes the continued development of a membrane-based subsystem designed to recover up to 99.5% of the water from various spacecraft waste waters. Specifically discussed are 1) the design and fabrication of an energy-efficient reverse-osmosis (RO) breadboard subsystem; 2) data showing the performance of this subsystem when operated on a synthetic wash-water solution-including the results of a 92-day test; and 3) the results of pasteurization studies, including the design and operation of an in-line pasteurizer. Also included in this paper is a discussion of the design and performance of a second RO stage. This second stage results in higher-purity product water at a minimal energy requirement and provides a substantial redundancy factor to this subsystem.