Enhanced Oxidation Catalysts for Water Reclamation

摘要

This effort seeks to develop and test high-performance, long operating life, physically stable catalysts for use in spacecraft water reclamation systems. The primary goals are to: (a) reduce the quantity of expendable water filters used to purify water aboard spacecraft, (b) to extend the life of the oxidation catalysts used for eliminating organic contaminants in the water reclamation systems, and (c) reduce the weight/volume of the catalytic oxidation systems (e.g. VRA) used. This effort is targeted toward later space station utilization and will consist of developing flight-qualifiable catalysts and long-term ground tests of the catalyst prior to their utilization in flight. Fixed -bed catalytic reactors containing 5% platinum on granular activated carbon have been subjected to long-term dynamic column tests to measure catalyst stability vs throughput. The data generated so far indicate that an order of magnitude improvement can be obtained with the treated catalysts vs the control catalyst, at only a minor loss (approx 10%) in the initial catalytic activity.