Sub-System Coupling for Grey Water Purification (VPCAR) (VPCAR)

Long duration manned spaceflight is constrained by the supplies required. Consumables such as food, breathing air and water have to be carried along. These supplies constitute a significant portion of the mission mass that has to be launched, and reducing the consumables required is a key area for game changing technologies that will enable manned deep space exploration. Several technologies have been under development to reclaim water in microgravity, with an emphasis on solutions that are lightweight and simplified enough to be robust for the space environment. One promising method is Vapor Phase Catalytic Ammonia Removal (VPCAR). The VPCAR technology recycles grey water (feed) to potable water via a combined distillation and high temperature catalytic vapor oxidation process. This process relies on a Wiped-Film Rotating-Disk (WFRD) to provide the evaporation and condensation surfaces that make distillation possible in a range of gravitational fields from lunar to zero-g. More »