Urine Pretreatment Team End of Semester Presentation Fall 2009 Space Engineering Research Center Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Texas A&M University Team Members: Macro Cienega, Libby Joachim, Matthew Langston, Alejandro Camou, Sandhya Ramesh, Caitlin Riegler, Laura Bradt, and Alan Lee Grad Student Mentor: Aditya Raut Desai Faculty Mentor: Dr. Boulanger NASA JSC Mentor: Mr. Adam

Project Justification and Goals In space, urine must be pretreated to prevent solids precipitation and biofilm formation, which can clog tubing. The current method uses Oxone and sulfuric acid, which are toxic and dangerous chemicals. In order to reclaim water from urine for long duration missions, a non-toxic pretreatment alternative must be found. For this semester, our team goal was to investigate alternatives to chemical pretreatment methods and design a suitable delivery system.

Current Urine Pretreatment Method “String of Pearls” Urine and fecal collection unit Oxone is toxic!! Not good for astronauts or water reclamation system

New Method: UV Disinfection UV light is used in flow hoods and water treatment plants because of its bactericidal effects Germicidal or UV-C range: 200 – 280 nm UV light rearranges DNA Thymine dimers form Replication is prevented

Fall 2009 Tasks Task 1 - Investigate the effects of reactor design on urine stability –Perform urine stability experiments Task 2 - Design and test UV reactor –Build test bed (with housing unit) –Develop appropriate test procedures –Design and model delivery system (reactor)

Task 1: Experimental Design and Analytical Methods TSS Turbidity pH Phenate Method IC Experiment 1 - effect of air exposure and urine source on short-term urine stability –Open and closed reactors –Single donation and two or more donations mixed Experiment 2 - effect of container material, sample volume, ambient light exposure, and stirring on short-term urine stability after UV treatment

Task 1: Results & Conclusions pH Same conclusions for open and closed system Mixed source reactor differs from single source reactor in both systems Turbidity Increases for all reactors, but the most for the mixed reactors Phosphate Decreases for mixed reactors Overall, mixed or single source has more of an impact on stability than open or closed environment.

Task 2: UV Test Bed Lamp 105 mW/cm 2 ~260 nm Housing Stand

Task 2: Preliminary Delivery System Design Inlet Outlet Sterilization Chamber Lamp Base and Power Supply

Summary Conducted urine stability tests on open and closed systems –Found more difference in stability between mixed and single source urine than between open and closed reactors Built UV test bed Started designing UV reactor

Future Deliverables UV reactor prototype with cleaning system Lamp maintenance and testing protocols Report on performance of UV system in comparison to current method (sulfuric acid)