Continued Development of the Electro Oxidation and Membrane Evaporator for Urine Processing and Water Recovery

This paper describes the continued development of wastewater processing and water reclamation applications using the Electro Oxidation Membrane Evaporator (EOME). The EOME purifies wastewater (augmented urine, flush water, and pretreat) by breaking down organic compounds with powerful oxidants such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and chlorine containing species (CCS) created from oxygen, water, and chloride salts in the wastewater on Boron?Doped?Diamond (BDD) coated electrodes. Waste heat generated from the electro?oxidation process is used to facilitate water evaporation through a gas?liquid contactor (GLC), allowing water evaporated from the wastewater to be recovered elsewhere. The purpose of developing and testing the EOME is to explore its potential for reducing the size, mass, power, and complexity of an Exploration wastewater treatment system, to increase the recovery of useful gases from waste products, and reduce waste volume. A full scale bench top EOME was developed based on previous work, including upgraded GLCs for evaporating water and a trace contaminant control system (TCCS) to capture previously identified off-gassed contaminants in the humid air. Tests with human urine were performed and gas and wastewater were sampled to help understand the EOME performance.