Regenerative Ammonia Recovery from ISS Wastewater to facilitate Plant Growth, Year 1

The KSC ammonia removal process repeatedly pumps wastewater through columns of MgHPO4, with ammonia measurements and pH adjustment between columns. Columns will be regenerated when saturated to recycle the MgHPO4. Different concepts for retrieving released ammonia will be tested. The process has the potential to become highly efficient, removing as much as 95% of the ammonia in wastewater. A number of factors such as residence time, column geometry, and pH need to be assessed to optimize system performance. Following optimization, these factors can be linked to develop a continuously operating system that can then be scaled for flight, as well as for other potential industrial and environmental applications.

Removal and recycling of nitrogen from wastewater is a critical technology for the International Space Station (ISS) and future long-duration exploration missions. Nitrogen as ammonia is valuable for plant growth systems, but finding a way to remove it from the water stream without sodium (a toxin for plants) is difficult. KSC has developed a removal process for ammonia that precipitates struvite, a compound of Magnesium Ammonium Phosphate, all chemicals beneficial to plants. This process could produce nitrogen for plants while preventing sodium accumulation.

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