Pre- and Post-Treatment Techniques for Spacecraft Water Recovery

Distillation-based waste water pretreatment and recovered water posttreatment methods are proposed for the NASA Space Station. Laboratory investigation results are reported for two nonoxidizing urine pretreatment formulas (hexadecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide and Cu/Cr) which minimize the generation of volatile organics, thereby significantly reducing posttreatment requirements. Three posttreatment methods (multifiltration, reverse osmosis, and UV-assisted ozone oxidation) have been identified which appear promising for the removal of organic contaminants from recovered water.