Testing Aquaporin InsideTM Membrane on the Intenational Space Station

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.