Microgravity Effects of Nanoscale Mixing on Diffusion Limited Processes Using Electrochemical Electrodes

The overall concept is to create an Alternate Water Processor system that can recover water from exploration mission’s wastewater (includes surfactants found in hygiene and laundry wastes) and reduce consumable mass and power consumption compared to actual ISS systems. The system will be comprised by three components: (1) An advanced Membrane Aerated Biological Reactor (MABR) as the primary water processor which feeds to a (2) Forward Osmosis Secondary Treatment (FOST) System which then feeds ammonia solution to the key focus of this proposal, (3) the Electrochemical Ammonia Removal (EAR) system.
This project is directed to achieve a risk mitigation microgravity environment evaluation and electrode design activity for the EAR. This initiative is made in conjunction with NASA Ames Research Center and it supports the Office of the Chief Technologist (OCT) Next Generation Life Support (NGLS) project.
Paper published prior to the flight tests (July 2012): Microgravity effects on the electrochemical oxidation of ammonia: A parabolic flight experiment.

The design of the electrodes for the EAR is critical to its correct sizing and integration to the FOST system.

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