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An aerobic pressurized bioreactor system to treat grey water under microgravity conditions has been developed. The treatment system consists of a packed bed bioreactor and an oxygenation device attached to an external re-circulation line. The membrane module provides bubble-free oxygen, at very high concentrations and transfer efficiency. Mass transfer characteristics of the oxygenation module have been studied. Oxygen mass transfer in water is described using a resistance-in-series model. A generalized mass transfer correlation that predicts the oxygen mass transfer coefficient has been developed. Experiments have been conducted to study the nitrification of grey water at various residence times.

This project investigates the effectiveness of a non-thermal diffuse plasma technology for destruction of environmental air contaminants in advanced life support (ALS) systems. A novel technique to generate large-volume, diffuse, non-thermal plasmas at ambient pressure with very low power consumption (∼ 10 Watts/cm3 plasma volume) has been developed. Plasma characteristics, chemistry, and contaminant destruction efficiency for benzene, toluene, and n-heptane are reported. The results of our research provide the basis for a self-sufficient, low-power, trace contaminant destruction technology that can potentially be a viable candidate in a respirable atmosphere revitalization system or a contaminant source control in ALS applications.