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A detailed study was conducted on nitrification using a bench top bioprocessor system proposed for water recycling of a urine-soap wastewater expected to be generated by crewmembers on International Space Station (ISS) or similar long-term space missions. The bioprocessor system consisted of two packed bed biofilm reactors; one anoxic reactor used for denitrification and one aerobic reactor used for nitrification. lnfluent wastewater was a mixture of dilute NASA whole body soap (2,300 mg/L) and urea (500 mg/L as organic nitrogen). During two months of steady-state operation, average chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was greater than 95%, and average total nitrogen removal was 70%. We observed that high levels of nitrite consistently accumulated in the aerobic (nitrifying) reactor effluent, indicating incomplete nitrification as the typical end product of the reaction would be nitrate.

The Biological Wastewater Processor Experiment Definition team is performing the preparatory ground research required to define and design a mature space flight experiment. One of the major outcomes from this work will be a unit-gravity prototype design of the infrastructure required to support scientific investigations related to microgravity wastewater bioprocessing. It is envisioned that this infrastructure will accommodate the testing of multiple bioprocessor design concepts in parallel as supplied by NASA, small business innovative research (SBIR), academia, and industry. In addition, a systematic design process to identify how and what to include in the space flight experiment was used.