Browsing by Author "Shaw, Hali"

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Continued Development of the Brine Evaporation Bag
(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Delzeit, Lance; Flynn, Michael; Fisher, John; Howard, Kevin; Shaw, Hali; Hyde, Deirdre
The Brine Evaporation Bag (BEB) is a membrane based bag system for the dewatering of brine. Previous studies showed the ability of the BEB to dewater brine at low temperatures with a 96% mass reduction. Additionally, a microgravity flight showed the BEB is microgravity compatible. Current work focuses on the effects of temperature, vacuum, purge gas flow rate, membrane area, and membrane permeability on the rate of dewatering within a vacuum oven configured to mimic the Heat Melt Compactor. Within this study, it was found that changing the temperature or level of vacuum would change the rate of dewatering. The purge gas, membrane area, and membrane permeability did not affect the dewater rate. The reason for this behavior may be that the dewatering is heat transfer limited, and out of all the parameters studied, only the temperature and vacuum have an effect on the heat transfer rate. The ISS produces brine at a rate of 1.2 L/day. This initial study showed that it is possible to remove water from a BEB at a rate of 1.6 L/day in this breadboard configuration; even at moderate temperatures. Development of a dedicated BEB Evaporator will be discussed. In addition, it is further postulated that a specifically designed BEB Evaporator would result in an increased dewatering rate allowing for even lower operating temperatures or faster dewatering rates.
Development of a Personal Water Reclamation System (PWRS)
(49th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2019-07-07) Flynn, Michael; Parodi, Jurek; Romero-Mangado, Jaione; Stefanson, Ofir; Shaw, Hali; Pedersen, Seth
The personal water reclamation system (PWRS) is a passive water treatment bag that is designed for emergency use. The PWRS produces an engineered drink or food product from contaminated water. It uses a pervaporation membrane that allows passage of the water vapor present in the feed solution and makes it condense on the product side. The bag is designed to be used independently or integrated into the crew’s pressure suit. It uses the osmotic potential between the feed and the product to drive the purification process. The PWRS uses a concentrated sugar or food solution as the osmotic agent. The urine feed provides water which is essentially distilled and used to dilute the osmotic draw solution to a level appropriate for direct human consumption. The PWRS provides the needed supply of hydration fluids, calories and electrolytes while substantially reducing the mass required for stored emergency supplies. The quality of the product solution is extremely pure, since the amount of total organic carbon is reduced to a few parts per million in the evaporation/condensation process. Gas chromatography of the product shows semi-volatile organics to be below detection limits. This paper describes the development of the PWRS and its preliminary testing in the lab and operational environment.
Development of the Continuous-fill Brine Evaporation Bag (BEB) System
(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Delzeit, Lance; Hayden, Anna; Felker, Caleb; Shaw, Hali; Beeler, David; Howard, Kevin
The existing water recovery system on the International Space Station (ISS) is limited to 70% reclamation; consequently, long duration space missions are currently unfeasible due to the large quantity of water necessary to sustain the crew. The Brine Evaporation Bag (BEB) is a proposed system to supplement the existing water recovery system aboard the ISS and future deep space missions that can increase water recovery to 99%. The BEB project previously focused on the development of only the bag portion of the system. This paper focuses on the development of the BEB Evaporator. It will discuss the work to understand, optimize, and improve the entire BEB system while implementing a continuous-fill process. The results of that development and the advantages and limitations of the continuous-fill process will be presented.
Evaluation of Aquaporin Membranes Using ISS Humidity Condensate Ersatz Wastewater
(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Shaw, Hali; Flynn, Michael; Parodi, Jurek; Stefanson, Ofir; Andersen, Thomas; Vogel, Jörg; Beeler, David; Coutts, Janelle; Kayatin, Matthew
On the International Space Station (ISS), distillate from the Urine Processor Assembly (UPA) and humidity condensate from the cabin are processed through a sequence of operations including distillation, filtration, adsorption, ion exchange, and catalytic oxidation. The use of adsorption and ion exchange beds in the Water Processor Assembly (WPA) are one of the main contributors to the resupply mass requirement. Developing improvements to the multifiltration system in order to reduce or eliminate the usage rate of expendable media such as adsorbents and ion-exchange resins is an important part of the evolution of ISS systems for future exploration missions. Development of the ISS Multifiltration Bed Replacement (MFBR) technology is based on a new generation of biomimetic membranes derive their unique characteristics from a protein call an Aquaporin. These membranes are capable of rejecting many semi-volatile organic compounds and were recently commercialized by the company Aquaporin A/S. NASA has conducted several studies on the use of Aquaporin membranes for the rejection of total organic carbon (TOC) of simulated ISS humidity condensate wastewater. Tests were conducted to determine the maximum water recovery ratio, and TOC rejection for both a flat sheet membrane and a membrane module. The results indicate that the aquaporin membrane can reject a minimum of 50% of the TOC using the simulated ISS humidity condensate ersatz, and achieves product water with a TOC value below 30 ppm.
Forward Osmosis Brine Drying
(45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2015-07-12) Flynn, Michael; Shaw, Hali; Hyde, Deirdre; Beeler, David; Parodi, Jurek
The Forward Osmosis Brine Drying (FOBD) system is based on a technique called forward osmosis (FO). FO is a membrane-based process where the osmotic potential between brine and a salt solution is equalized by the movement of water from the brine to the salt solution. The FOBD system is composed of two main elements, the FO bag and the salt regeneration system. This paper discusses the results of testing of the FO bag to determine the maximum water recovery ratio that can be attained using this technology. Testing demonstrated that the FO bag is capable of achieving a maximum brine water recovery ratio of the brine of 95%. The equivalent system mass was calculated to be 95 kg for a feed similar to the concentrated brine generated on the International Space Station and 86 kg for an Exploration brine. The results have indicated that the FOBD can process all the brine for a one year mission for between 11% to 10% mass required to bring the water needed to make up for water lost in the brine if not recycled. The FOBD saves 685 kg and when treating the International Space Station brine and it saves 829 kg when treating the Exploration brine. It was also demonstrated that saturated salt solutions achieve a higher water recovery ratios than solids salts do and that lithium chloride achieved a higher water recovery ratio than sodium chloride.
Forward Osmosis Brine Drying
(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Flynn, Michael; Shaw, Hali; Hyde, Deirdre; Delzeit, Lance; Stefanson, Ofir
The Forward Osmosis Brine Drying (FOBD) system is a membrane-based urine brine drying technology designed for use in microgravity. It has been evaluated by NASA for use on the International Space Station (ISS) to increase the water recovery ratio of the ISS Water Processor Assembly (WPA). The FOBD post treats urine brine generated in the ISS Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) and extracts any remaining water from it. In the FOBD process the osmotic potential between two fluids of differing solute/solvent concentrations are equalized by the movement of solvent from the less concentrated solution to the more concentrated solution. The urine brine is placed on one side of a membrane and a salt-water solution called the osmotic agent (OA) is placed on the other. The solvent is water and the solutes are the components of urine and any pretreatment chemicals. The osmotic agent is a lithium chloride solution, at a TDS of about 730 g/L. The osmotic potential between the OA and feed determines the maximum water recovery ratio that can be achieved. A 92% water recovery ratio, of the pre-concentrated brine, was achieved.
FOST 2 testing using grey water and bioreactor effluent as the feed
(45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2015-07-12) Parodi, Jurek; Mangado, Jaione Romero; Flynn, Michael; Shaw, Hali
The FOST 2 system is designed as a post treatment system to process the effluent from the Membrane Aerated Biological Reactor (MABR) that is under development at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), and its function is to remove residual dissolved solids, ammonia, suspended solids, and to provide a physical barrier to microbial and viral contamination. Besides treating the bioreactor’s effluent, the FOST 2 has been tested using grey water collected from the Sustainability Base Building at NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) as the feed solution in order to investigate its capability to be potentially used as a primary treatment system. The FOST 2 system is an integrated membrane system that incorporates a forward osmosis (FO) subsystem and a reverse osmosis (RO) subsystem working in parallel. Differently from its previous version, the FOST 2 integrates a new customized FO membrane module. This paper documents the performance of the system at water recovery rates higher than 90% using both the effluent from the MABR and grey water as the feed.
FOST 2 upgrade with hollow-fiber CTA FO module and generation of osmotic agent for microorganism growth studies
(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Parodi, Jurek; Romero-Mangado, Jaione; Flynn, Michael; Stefanson, Ofir; Shaw, Hali; Beeler, David
FOST 2 is an integrated membrane system that incorporates a forward osmosis subsystem and a reverse osmosis subsystem working in parallel. It has been designed as a post treatment system to process the effluent from the Membrane Aerated Biological Reactor developed at NASA Johnson Space Center. Its function is to remove dissolved solids residual such as ammonia and suspended solids, as well as to provide a physical barrier to microbial and viral contamination. A tubular CTA membrane module from HTI and a flat-sheet lipid-base membrane module from Porifera were integrated and tested on FOST 2 in the past, using both a bioreactor’s effluent and grey water as the feed solution. This paper documents the performance of FOST 2 after its upgrade with a hollow-fiber CTA membrane module from Toyobo, treating real black-water to generate the osmotic agent solution necessary to conduct growth studies of genetically engineered microorganism for the Synthetic Biological Membrane project.
Multifiltration Bed Replacement System for the International Space Station using Aquaporin Membranes and Humidity Condensate Ersatz Wastewater
(47th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2017-07-16) Shaw, Hali; Flynn, Michael; Beeler, David; Howard, Kevin; Parodi, Jurek; Kawashima, Brian; Andersen, Thomas A. E.; Vogel, Jörg; Kleinschmidt, Kim
The Multifiltration Bed system in the International Space Station (ISS) Water Processor Assembly (WPA) needs to be improved by reducing or eliminating the usage rate of expendable media, removing dimethylsilanediol, and reducing the overall system mass. The Multifiltration Bed Replacement technology is a pressure driven biomimetic membrane based system that is being evaluated to replace the function of the Multifiltration Beds in the ISS WPA. Tests were conducted to determine the performance of the Aquaporin Inside™ Hollow Fiber Module at a 98% water recovery ratio. A long-duration test of the membrane was also conducted to determine membrane life. The feed used for testing was the simulated ISS Marshall Space Flight Center humidity condensate ersatz. All tests operated at ambient temperature and a backpressure of 20 psi. Samples were analyzed for total organic carbon, dimethylsilanediol, acetate, ions, and volatiles including ethanol and acetone. The results indicated that at a 97.6% ± 0.47% water recovery ratio, the membrane can reject approximately 50% of the total organic carbon and conductivity. For long-duration testing, the membrane has shown no degradation for 8711.8 hours and testing is ongoing.
Optimization of the Distiller Calcium Limiter (DCaL) System for Calcium Removal in Spacecraft Wastewater
(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Shaw, Hali; Flynn, Michael; Wisniewski, Richard; Delzeit, Lance; Shull, Sarah; Sargusingh, Miriam; Beeler, David; Howard, Jeanie; Howard, Kevin; Kawashima, Brian; Hayden, Anna
The Distiller Calcium Limiter (DCaL) system removes calcium scale precursors from spacecraft wastewater. Previous research has indicated that the DCaL system successfully removes calcium, preventing the formation of calcium scale on heat transfer surfaces. The objective of this study was to optimize the DCaL system; this includes completing a mass balance, determining the optimum ion exchange membranes (anion and cation), and determining the effectiveness of electrodialysis reversal. Three membrane pairs were tested: Astom Neosepta® AMX/CMX (anion/cation), Astom AHA/CMB, and proprietary research membranes AEM/CEM. Tests were conducted using three individual test stands with different cell stacks that contained the membranes. The feed used for testing consisted of CaCl2 (20 g/L) and NaCl (25 g/L). The results from the testing were used to determine which membrane was the most efficient at removing calcium. A chemical compatibility test was then conducted by completing permselectivity tests, which were used to compare new membranes versus membranes that were previously soaked in brine (a concentrated urine mixture containing chromic acid) for 99 days. SEM images were also taken of the membranes soaked in brine to view any physical changes that may have occurred. The effect of electrodialysis reversal was determined by completing tests using ISS simulated wastewater (US/Russian chromic acid ISS pretreatment) and the DCaL-WFRD system. Three material balance tests were conducted to distinguish the ion transfer rates and water transfer rates. A vacuum test was completed to determine whether the electrodialysis stack could hold vacuum. Based on testing, the results showed that the Astom Neosepta® AMX and CMX membranes provided the highest performance in terms of calcium removal and chemical compatibility. The results also showed that electrodialysis reversal improves calcium removal and prevents fouling of the membranes. The material balance confirmed that the DCaL system removes calcium; however, additional tests are necessary to obtain data with better resolution and to determine the effect of more complex feed mixtures.
Results for the Brine Evaporation Bag (BEB) Brine Processing Test
(45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2015-07-12) Delzeit, Lance; Flynn, Michael; Fisher, John; Shaw, Hali; Kawashima, Brian; Beeler, David; Howard, Kevin
The recent Brine Processing Test compared the NASA Forward Osmosis Brine Dewatering (FOBD), Paragon Ionomer Water Processor (IWP), UMPQUA Ultrasonic Brine Dewatering System (UBDS), and the NASA Brine Evaporation Bag (BEB). This paper reports the results of the BEB. The BEB was operated at 70 °C and a base pressure of 12 torr. The BEB was operated in a batch mode, and processed 0.4L of brine per batch. Two different brine feeds were tested, a chromic acid-urine brine and a chromic acid-urine- hygiene mix brine. The chromic acid-urine brine, known as the ISS Alternate Pretreatment Brine, had an average processing rate of 95 mL/hr with a specific power of 5kWhr/L. The complete results of these tests will be reported within this paper. ICES-2015-67
Results of the FY15 Brine Evaporation Bag (BEB) Technology Down-Select Testing
(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Delzeit, Lance; Hayden, Anna; Felker, Caleb; Shaw, Hali; Beeler, David; Howard, Kevin
The Brine Evaporation Bag (BEB) has recently participated in the Brine Concentrator Technology (BCT) Technology Down-Select (TDS). The current understanding of the BEB System and how it would fit into a future space mission will be presented.
Results of the GCMS Effluent Gas Analysis for the Brine Processing Test
(45th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2015-07-12) Delzeit, Lance; Lee, Jeffery; Flynn, Michael; Fisher, John; Shaw, Hali; Kawashima, Brian; Beeler, David; Harris, Linden
The effluent gas for the Paragon Ionomer Water Processor (IWP), UMPQUA Ultrasonic Brine Dewatering System (UBDS), and the NASA Brine Evaporation Bag (BEB) were analyzed using Headspace GCMS Analysis in the recent AES FY14 Brine Processing Test. The results from the analysis describe the number and general chemical species of the chemicals produced. Comparisons were also made between the different chromatograms for each system, and an explanation of the differences in the results is reported.
Space and Industrial Brine Drying Technologies
(44th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2014-07-13) Jones, Harry W.; Wisniewski, Richard; Flynn, Michael; Shaw, Hali
This survey describes brine drying technologies that have been developed for use in space and industry. NASA has long considered developing a brine drying system for the International Space Station (ISS). Possible processes include conduction drying in many forms, spray drying, distillation, freezing and freeze drying, membrane filtration, and electrical processes. Commercial processes use similar technologies. Some proposed space systems combine several approaches. The current most promising candidates for use on the ISS use either conduction drying with membrane filtration or spray drying.
Synthetic Biological Membrane Forward Osmosis Trade Study
(48th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2018-07-08) Flynn, Michael; Mancinelli, Rocco; Romero-Mangado, Jaione; Shaw, Hali; Parodi, Jurek; Budair, Abdelrahman; Tatum, Simone
This document provides a trade study for the Synthetic Biological Membrane (SBM). The objective is to compare the SBM technology against the current state of the art in spacecraft water recycling. The primary advantage of the SBM is that it improves the reliability of membrane based water recycling systems which have inherent mass, power and volume benefits over competing systems. The SBM is a novel biomimetic technology that reduces the need to replace separation membranes that become fouled, or are damaged due to oxidation. The technology is based on a new generation of biological membranes that have the ability to heal by replacing a sacrificial fatty acid (FA) coating on the membrane’s active side. The FAs are generated in situ by genetically engineered organisms that live in contact with the membrane using nutrients that are extracted from the feed across the membrane.
Testing Aquaporin InsideTM Membrane on the Intenational Space Station
(46th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2016-07-10) Tommerup, Maja Bender; Kleinschmidt, Kim; Vogel, Jörg; Flynn, Michael; Shaw, Hali
Recently, forward osmosis has received increased attention in the market of water treatment in a wide variety of applications on earth. Now, it has been tested in space on the international Space Station. The Aquaporin InsideTM membrane from Aquaporin A/S is utilizing forward osmosis in connection with water selective proteins (aquaporins). Preliminary ground testing at NASA Ames Research Center has demonstrated that the Aquaporin InsideTM membrane possess unique characteristics for the rejection of certain semi-volatile organics. The research focused on the Aquaporin InsideTM membrane’s ability to reduce the amount of Dimethylsilanediol (DMSD) in the ISS Water recycling system. NASA is currently evaluating the use of the Aquaporin InsideTM technology to replace the ISS Water Processor Assembly multifiltration beds. The aim is to eliminate the impact of DMSD and more importantly to reduce the resupply requirement for the ISS Water Processor Assembly. NASA tests have shown that the Aquaporin InsideTM membrane’s rejection of total organic carbon (TOC) is 98.9 ± 0.5% of all TOC present in ISS condensate feed, which exceeds the performance of the multifiltration beds. The ground investigations lead to an in-flight testing of three identical setups being flown on Soyuz-44S during ESA’s Short Duration Mission with Danish ESA-astronaut Andreas Mogensen. After his arrival in September 2015 the 3 setups containing the Aquaporin InsideTM membrane were tested in the ESA Columbus-laboratory on ISS. Initial volume data from the 3 tests shows positive water flux. The result from the analysis of the returned samples will be ready in the spring 2016 and presented in the paper.
Testing Aquaporin InsideTM Membrane on the International Space Station - Part II
(47th International Conference on Environmental Systems, 2017-07-16) Tommerup, Maja Bender; Kleinschmidt, Kim; Vogel, Jörg; Flynn, Michael; Shaw, Hali
Recently, forward osmosis has received increased attention in the market of water treatment in a wide variety of applications on earth. It has been tested in space on the international Space Station in 2015 and now a new set of experiment hardware will be tested on the ISS. The Aquaporin InsideTM membrane from Aquaporin A/S is utilizing forward osmosis in connection with water selective proteins (aquaporins). Preliminary ground testing at NASA Ames Research Center has demonstrated that the Aquaporin InsideTM membrane possess unique characteristics for the rejection of certain semi-volatile organics. The research focused on the Aquaporin InsideTM membrane’s ability to reduce the amount of Dimethylsilanediol (DMSD) in the ISS Water recycling system. NASA is currently evaluating the use of the Aquaporin InsideTM technology to replace the ISS Water Processor Assembly multifiltration beds. The aim is to eliminate the impact of DMSD and more importantly to reduce the resupply requirement for the ISS Water Processor Assembly. NASA tests have shown that the Aquaporin InsideTM membrane’s rejection of total organic carbon (TOC) is 98.9 ± 0.5% of all TOC present in ISS condensate feed, which exceeds the performance of the multifiltration beds. In addition to the in-flight testing performed by the Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen on September 2015, three new identical test systems are sent to the ISS to be tested on November 2016 by the French astronaut Thomas Pesquet. Volume data from the 3 test systems will indicate the performance of the Aquaporin InsideTM membrane in microgravity. Within 6 months, following the experiment, the systems including the processed water will be returned to ground for analysis. The result of the analysis will be ready early in 2017 and presented in the paper.