The grant-funded research, titled “Feasibility Study of Non-Thermal Plasma Treatment for Water VOC Removal for Space Applications,” will focus on an alternative water purification technology for space flight crew needs. The International Space Station (ISS) water processor assembly is designed to produce potable water from several wastewater streams, including crew and animal respiration, humidity condensate, waste hygiene water, and urine distillate. VOCs, including alcohol, ketone, or aldehydes, must be removed from the wastewater stream at the rate they are generated before reuse by the crew, in order to protect crew health and ensure their ability to perform mission-critical tasks. In phase one of the project, our group will develop several lab-scale plasma systems to evaluate their VOC removal performance from water in space flights.
Read more on northcountrynow.com