Appendix E: Supercritical combustion reactor for water oxidation and recycling of non-edible biomass for long duration space flights - Farouk

A fundamental understanding of the dynamics and chemical kinetics of supercritical oxidation process will provide the foundational knowledge base which is currently limited. The fundamental knowledge base on this topic is also immensely important to understand supercritical water oxidation processes to advance solid waste treatment and or wastewater recovery and management, as well as allow recycling of non-edible biomass to value added chemicals for long duration space flights and advanced space exploration system. NASA's 2020 technology roadmaps include a wide range of pathways to advance the nation's current capabilities in space. Of the different space technology areas, “Human Health, Life Support and Habitation Systems” emphasizes development of technologies for waste water recovery and management. This multi PI team at the University of South Carolina aims to augment NASA’s effort in this area in ground-based experiments and allow the development of the scientific understanding for future ground-based microgravity and/or International Space Station (ISS) investigations on supercritical oxidation. The proposed methodologies will provide fundamental and scientific understanding through developing the bench scale, ground-based experiments with advanced diagnostics and complementary hi-fidelity multi-physics modeling. Also, the overall effort will allow the development of a prototype compact supercritical reactor. The scientific goals of this one-year project are: 1) characterization of phase change and transport processes associated with injection of subcritical fluid into an environment in which it is supercritical, 2) characterization of ignition process and the conversion of hydrocarbon and oxygenated fuels/materials at supercritical water conditions, and 3) analyses of experimental results using coupled multi-physics mathematical modeling frameworks. The fuels to be investigated will encompass test fuels that are miscible (i.e. methanol) and immiscible (i.e. n-heptane) in water and/or additional fuels/materials (to be tested) in discussion with Glenn Research Center (GRC) and Kennedy Space Center (KSC) scientists which might be part of future NASA test matrix and target studies. Advanced diagnostic techniques, such as backlight and planar laser induced fluorescence imaging as well as high-speed imaging will be applied to characterize the trans-critical/supercritical mixing as well as ignition of hydrocarbon/oxygenated fuels at supercritical water conditions. The proposed research thus will provide insights into the physicochemical dynamics of supercritical oxidation. The visualized and quantified experimental results will be used as benchmarks to further refine/validate models. The acquired fundamental knowledge of supercritical oxidation will provide guidelines for NASA in developing technology for solid waste management, wastewater recovery and recycling of non-edible biomass for long duration space flights and advanced exploration systems.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.