Browsing by Author "Melendez, Orlando"
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Item A Guide for Evaluating Spacecraft Environmental Control & Life Support Systems (ECLSS) Technology Developments(51st International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/10/2022) Cowan, Darnell; Abney, Morgan; Broyan, James; Perry, Jay; Delzeit, Lance; Meyer, Marit; Melendez, Orlando; Williams, DavidEnvironmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) are the core of any human spacecraft or habitat and are key to the astronaut's survival during missions. NASA continues to invest in the development of ECLSS technology that more efficiently recycle air, water, and waste. These advancements are needed to enable longer duration Artemis missions to the Moon or Mars and reduce dependency on Earth. Objectively evaluating the content of a technical portfolio is critical to identifying and advancing the most technically relevant and/or promising technology solutions, particularly in limited resource scenarios. Here we define four types of technical portfolio evaluations: 1) Technology Down-Selects where one or more technologies are selected over others within the same trade space (for development or flight), 2) Technology Continuation Reviews where a technology's relevance and development progress is weighed against stand-alone metrics and the risks of continued development, 3) Technology Flight Necessity Assessments to determine whether a flight demonstration is required to meet critical performance goals, and 4) Flight Demonstration Readiness Assessments to determine whether the technology is technically ready to be considered for flight demonstration. Historically, the processes used to evaluate technologies within the ECLSS portfolio have varied from project to project. Therefore, an assessment was performed to improve consistency and transparency of ECLSS technology evaluation processes within NASA. This involved evaluating the processes employed on historical NASA projects, and those used in industry and other government agencies to identify the most relevant and useful aspects of each. The product is a guide to quantitatively and objectively evaluate ECLSS technology developments, and case studies were performed using the new guide on previously completed technology development projects. The outcomes were compared, and findings are reported in this paper along with a discussion of how this new guide will be applied for future NASA ECLSS technology projects.Item Air Revitalization Sorbents from Raw Waste Biomass(2024 International Conference on Environmnetal Systems, 2024-07-21) Monje, Oscar; Curry, Aaron; Tomlin, Douglas; Melendez, OrlandoRecycling raw spacecraft waste biomass may significantly reduce the resupply of expendable activated carbon used in air revitalization ECLS. Activated carbon produced from inedible plant biomass or algal biomass can be used for trace contaminant control. However, the activated carbon produced must have similar NH3 and dichloromethane removal capacities as current commercial activated carbons used on ISS. The feasibility of methods for producing activated carbon from inedible plant biomass and algae is presented and discussed. The removal capacities of plant and algal biomass derived sorbents were compared to capacities of commercial acid-treated sorbents.Item Evaluating the Adsorptive Capacities of Chemsorb 1000 and Chemsorb 1425(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Monje, Oscar; Surma, Jan M.; Johnsey, Marissa N.; Melendez, OrlandoThe Air Revitalization Lab at KSC tested Chemsorb 1000 and 1425, two candidate sorbents for use in future air revitalization technologies being evaluated by the ARREM project. Chemsorb 1000 and 1425 are granular coconut-shell activated carbon sorbents produced by Molecular Products, Inc. that may be used in the TCCS. Chemsorb 1000 is a high grade activated carbon for organic vapor adsorption. In contrast, Chemsorb 1425 is a high-grade impregnated activated carbon for adsorption of airborne ammonia and amines. Chemsorb 1000 was challenged with simulated spacecraft gas streams in order to determine its adsorptive capacities for mixtures of volatile organics compounds. Chemsorb 1425 was challenged with various NH3 concentrations to determine its adsorptive capacity.Item ISS Waste Water Pretreatment Via DNA Pattern Picofilter Using Inorganic Brine Simulant(50th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 7/12/2021) Franco, Carolina; Lunn, Griffin; Snyder, Sarah; Link, Bruce; Melendez, Orlando; Dominguez, JesusAstronauts in the International Space Station need as much water as they can access, whether it comes from people's breath, sweat or urine, recycled shower water or from hand-washing. It is of vital importance that any type of water gets recycled and filtrated through different methods so it can be re-used. Recently, a company called Cerahelix, Inc. offered a ceramic tubular membrane element that uses DNA strands as a pattern in a sol-gel process that allows the sintered product to have a pore size in the picometer scale and claims to achieve ten times higher purity than other commercially available ceramic filters. This should allow higher purities and yields at reduced energy costs and theoretically allow near total dewatering of the reject stream and 80%+ polyvalent ion removal. A triplicate set of tests at two different pHs were performed with Cerahelix filters using an inorganic brine simulant in order to test and evaluate the efficiency of its PicoHelixTM membrane and determine feasibility for spacecraft and similar wastewater pretreatment processes. Several ions were studied but emphasis was placed on the polyvalent ions, SO42-, PO43-, Mg2+, and Ca2+; these ions should be rejected almost entirely from the feed solution and, therefore, the masses for the corresponding ions would be as close to zero as the feed permeates through the filter. Initial test results show that at a pH of 4.2, permeation of the polyvalent ions vary from 59% to 74% and at pH of 8.0 permeates vary from 72% to 87%, a very small amount was retained in the reject. Extended Nernst Planck (ENP) approach that describes the mass transfer process in the pico-filtration membranes was used to build a model and be able to explain the experimental outcome.Item Producing Air Revitalization Sorbents from Spacecraft Waste Biomass(2023 International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2023-07-16) Monje, Oscar; Finn, Joshua; Melendez, OrlandoRepurposing spacecraft waste biomass improves the logistics of waste disposal and the resupply of expendable activated carbon used in air revitalization ECLS. Several bioregenerative technologies (bioreactors, algal reactors, and crop production systems) produce C wastes that can be converted into activated carbon used for trace contaminant control. Activated carbon can be produced by a two-step process: 1) biochar formation using slow pyrolysis, and 2) activation with steam or with chemical agents. The activated carbon produced must have similar NH3 and dichloromethane removal capacities as the SOA impregnated activated C (i.e. Barnabey Sutcliffe Type 3032) used for trace contaminant control on ISS. The feasibility of methods for producing biochar and impregnated activated carbon from inedible plant biomass and algae is presented and discussed. The NH3 removal capacities of plant and algal biomass derived sorbents were compared to capacities of two commercial acid-treated sorbents. This proof-of-concept effort opens an avenue for repurposing spacecraft C wastes towards the production of sorbents used for ECLS air revitalization architectures.