Nonequilibrium Plasma Applications for Water Purification Supporting Human Spaceflight and Terrestrial Point-of-Use

Plasma technology generates powerful advanced oxidation processes (AOP's) that attack organic contaminants and bacteria. This is achieved via a process known as mineralization where organic compounds are reduced to carbon dioxide, water, and inorganic salts. The extremely high electric fields kills bacteria by rupturing their cell membranes. Due to the extremely short duration time-scales (nanoseconds), the chemistry and physics of these processes are not well understood. Most conventional water treatment processes are based on filtration, ozonization, UV-treatment, reverse-osmosis, and chemical consumables (e.g. chlorine). These processes have complexities due to cost, additional infrastructure, and consumables delivery. The goal is to advance the TRL of "Plasma Pure" technology by building and testing a continuous flow 2-stage technology-enhancing plasma-reactor, capable of handling a 10 gallons/minute throughput.

The real appeal is that Plasma Pure technology does not introduce toxic chemicals into the liquids, as in the case with chlorination, which can lead to the formation of carcinogenic and/or mutagenic byproducts. A major process advantage is the elimination of certain pollutants that are resistant to conventional treatment methods, such as textile dyes, pharmaceuticals, and cyanobacteria (microcystin, anatoxin) which exist in harmful algal blooms. This "green" innovative treatment of liquid water via electrical discharge can be highly effective in microbial killing, low average power consumption (~ 500 Watts), and low infrastructure cost. The key challenge preventing the application of plasma-based water treatment in real treatment systems is - scale-up technology. The study aimed to make a major impact on scale-up by defining requirements for any plasma-based system including minimum throughput definition, and the lower limit electrical efficiency for practical implementation. Because the objective is to enhance plasma contact time with liquid water under elevated throughput conditions, any progress in this area will advance the field paving the way for successful embodiments in the future. The effort also establishes GRC core competency in nonequilibrium plasma at atmospheric pressure. This regime has a host of other applications such as aerodynamic drag reduction, aircraft noise control, energy conversion, ignition and combustion, and fuel reforming.

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