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A series of experiments to evaluate performance of catalysts for CELSS System Wet-oxidation process has been carried out. Data obtained from the experiments show that the noble metal selected for the catalyst gives a good performance in oxidizing Organic Carbon and Organic Nitrogen. The data also show that a catalyst with certain amount of the metal (wt%) shows maximum efficiency in the oxidation; in addition, a catalyst with a different amount of metal gives good performance in producing high quality fertilizer.

The recovery of important minerals, salt (NaCI) and potassium (K), in a closed system, namely CELSS is discussed. NaCI is needed for humans, but is potentially harmful to plants. Salt is recovered after wet oxidation of urine. Since Na and K have similar chemical and physical properties, their recovery or separation may require sophisticated methods. Na, CI and K ions are separated from other ions by electrodialysis with univalent selective ion-exchange membranes and then NaCI is obtained separately by a crystalization process. Preliminary experiment on crystalization of NaCI-KCl mixed solutions showed a good separation result.