NASA 1996 SBIR Phase I

PROJECT TITLE : A High Efficiency Reactor for Biological Waste Water Processing

TECHNICAL ABSTRACT (LIMIT 200 WORDS)

Technologies for the recycling of water are a primary goal of NASA's advanced life support programs. Biological processes have been identified as an attractive method for wastewater processing. The advantages of this method include: the ability to degrade most organic contaminants, low power consumption, operation without expendable items, low maintenance, and the ability to be completely self regenerating under a given set of environmental conditions. Bioreactors currently being developed for the treatment of recovered hygiene water and urine in closed regenerative life support systems use an attached growth reactor configuration. This design is advantageous because the biomass is retained inside the reactor but the efficiency is limited due to insufficient contact time between the biomass and the liquid medium. This proposal concerns a fundamentally new bioreactor concept for enhanced biological processing of wastewater with the potential to overcome many of the limitations of existing reactor configurations. The advantages of the proposed method are its small size, high flow rates, the ability to remove carbon and nitrogenous wastes in a single unit process, and the use of an active pH control method to optimize the reactor's environment. The Phase I research will involve a laboratory scale feasibility study of the new bioreactor. The projected outcome is a cost effective bioreactor with enhanced performance for space and terrestrial applications.

The anticipated result of this project is a new versatile and efficient processing system for biological water purification. The method will have unique small-size, low maintenance and low cost characteristics. Specific applications include: point-of-entry water treatment for buildings, treatment of well water, and effluent treatment from manufacturing and industrial facilities. The method is very suitable for use in remote communities, tribal areas, underdeveloped countries, oil production platforms, and in remote bases at the earth's polar regions.

G.D. Hitchens
Lynntech, Inc.
7610 Eastmark Drive, Suite 105
College Station, Texas 77840

Lynntech, Inc.
7610 Eastmark Drive, Suite 105
College Station, TX 77840