NASA SBIR 2008 Solicitation

SMALL BUSINESS CONCERN (Firm Name, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Lynntech, Inc.
7610 Eastmark Drive
College Station, TX 77840 - 4023
(979) 693-0017

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT MANAGER (Name, E-mail, Mail Address, City/State/Zip, Phone)
Jinseong Kim
jinseong.kim@lynntech.com
7610 Eastmark Drive
College Station, TX 77840 - 4023
(979) 693-0017

Expected Technology Readiness Level (TRL) upon completion of contract: 4

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (Limit 2000 characters, approximately 200 words)
A priority in Environmental Control and Life Support systems for extended space missions is to recover and process wastewater to provide potable water for crew consumption and oxygen generation. Total organic carbon (TOC) indicates the overall quality of reclaimed and stored water and their suitability for crew consumption by indicating the potential presence of hazardous chemicals. For extended missions, water monitoring requires reliable, real-time, online sensors, with limited or no need for resupplied chemicals, and low equivalent system mass (ESM). The goal of this project is to develop a reliable, compact, flight-qualifiable, microgravity-compatible, TOC analyzer (TOCA) for online, real-time water monitoring with an operational lifetime of 5 years with no need to resupply chemicals or water. Key components include an electrochemical unit that eliminates the need to resupply or store chemicals, an effective oxidation processor for TOC conversion to carbon dioxide, a compact, stable inorganic carbon sensing unit, and mesofluidic design for reduced ESM. During Phase I, Lynntech successfully demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed system by designing, fabricating, and testing both the critical components and an integrated breadboard TOCA. During Phase II, an optimized, reliable, compact, flight-qualifiable, microgravity-compatible TOCA prototype will be designed, fabricated, tested, and delivered to NASA.

POTENTIAL NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Successful development of a compact online total organic carbon analyzer (TOCA) will lead to quality monitoring of the reclaimed and stored water supplies on-orbit and their suitability for crew consumption by indicating the potential presence of hazardous chemicals. Improved monitors are desired for the ISS and are essential for crew safety on the planned long-duration missions to the moon and Mars. The proposed technology will provide reliable, real-time monitoring of water quality by indicating the level of organic contaminants in the recycled water. It will solve key issues for manned space missions: there is no need to supply chemicals or water; chemical storage and handling as well as sample pre-dilution are eliminated; minimal crew maintenance time is required; the unit has a low equivalent system mass; and testing water volumes used are minimal.

POTENTIAL NON-NASA COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS (Limit 1500 characters, approximately 150 words)
Total organic carbon (TOC) analysis is a well-defined and commonly used analytical tool. Many water utilities monitor TOC to determine raw water quality or to evaluate the effectiveness of processes designed to remove organic carbons. Successful development of a compact online total organic carbon analyzer (TOCA) will have a high commercial applicability to a wide range of industries where water quality assurance and control is important, such as the semiconductor or pharmaceutical industries.

NASA's technology taxonomy has been developed by the SBIR-STTR program to disseminate awareness of proposed and awarded R/R&D in the agency. It is a listing of over 100 technologies, sorted into broad categories, of interest to NASA.

TECHNOLOGY TAXONOMY MAPPING

Biomedical and Life Support Waste Processing and Reclamation