Ionomer-membrane Water Processor (IWP) Engineering Development Unit (EDU) Brine Water Recovery Test Results

摘要

Closing the water loop on long duration spaceflight missions is a key aspect of reducingmission mass and logistics support for orbiting facilities and is a necessity for interplanetaryspacecraft. Closing that water loop cannot be achieved without recovery of water from brine.As such, NASA has identified brine processing as an enabling technology for exploring otherworlds. Paragon Space Development Corporation is developing the patent-pending Ionomer-membrane Water Processor (IWP) to enable water recovery from urine and brine. Through aNASA SBIR Phase 2 effort, Paragon developed and tested a large-scale IWP EngineeringDevelopment Unit (EDU). Testing with urine brine pretreated with the International SpaceStation (ISS) pretreatment formulation was conducted by both Paragon and NASA AmesResearch Center. The IWP EDU successfully recovered over 85% of the water from brine,boosting total water recovery from urine up to 98%. Testing also demonstrated 99% removal ofcontaminants in brine in a configuration designed for microgravity application.