The water treatment and recycling in 105-day bioregenerative life support experiment in the Lunar Palace 1

• Published in: Acta astronautica 2017-11, Vol.140, p.420-426
• Main Authors: Xie, Beizhen, Zhu, Guorong, Liu, Bojie, Su, Qiang, Deng, Shengda, Yang, Lige, Liu, Guanghui, Dong, Chen, Wang, Minjuan, Liu, Hong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activated carbon; Bioreactors; Bioregenerative life support system; Carbon; Condensate water; Condensates; Distillation; Distilled water; Drinking water; Greywater; Irrigation; Irrigation water; Irrigation water quality; Life support systems; Mars bases; Membrane-biological activated carbon reactor; Reactors; Recycling; Regeneration; Sanitary & kitchen wastewater; Space exploration; Urine; Urine treatment; Wastewater; Wastewater treatment; Water purification; Water quality; Water quality standards; Water recycling system of the Lunar Palace 1; Water reuse; Water treatment
• ISSN: 0094-5765; 1879-2030
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.08.026

In the bioregenerative life support system (BLSS), water recycling is one of the essential issues. The Lunar Palace 1, a ground-based bioregenerative life support system experimental facility, has been developed by our team and a 105-day closed bioregenerative life support experiment with multi-crew involved has been accomplished within this large-scale facility. During the 105-day experiment, activated carbon-absorption/ultra-filtration, membrane-biological activated carbon reactor and reduced pressure distillation technology have been used to purify the condensate water, sanitary & kitchen wastewater and urine, respectively. The results demonstrated that the combination of those technologies can achieve 100% regeneration of the water inside the Lunar Palace 1. The purified condensate water (the clean water) could meet the standards for drinking water quality in China (GB5749-2006). The treatment capacity of the membrane-biological activated carbon reactor for sanitary & kitchen wastewater could reach 150 kg/d. During the 105-d experiment, the average volume loading of the bioreactor was 0.441 kgCOD/(m3d), and the average COD removal efficiency was about 85.3%. The quality of the purified sanitary & kitchen wastewater (the greywater) could meet the standards for irrigation water quality (GB 5084–2005). In addition, during the 105-day experiment, the total excreted urine volume of three crew members was 346 L and the contained water was totally treated and recovered. The removal efficiency of ion from urine was about 88.12%. Moreover, partial nitrogen within the urine was recovered as well and the average recovery ratio was about 20.5%. The study laid a foundation for the water recycling technologies which could be used in BLSS for lunar or Mars bases. •The water recycling system has been built within the Lunar Palace 1.•Three kinds of wastewater have been purified during the 105-d BLSS experiment.•The treated water meets the water quality standards for different usage.•100% regeneration of the water inside the system has been achieved in the experiment.