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The purpose of the Permeable Membrane Experiment is to gather flight data on three areas of membrane performance that are influenced by the presence of gravity. These areas are: (1) liquid/gas phase separation, (2) gas bubble interference with diffusion through porous membranes and (3) wetting characteristics of hydrophilic membrane surfaces. These data are important in understanding the behavior of membrane/liquid/gas interfaces where surface tension forces predominate. The data will be compared with 1-g data already obtained and with predicted microgravity behavior. The data will be used to develop designs for phase separation and plant nutrient delivery systems and will be available to the life support community for use in developing technologies which employ membranes. A conceptual design has been developed to conduct three membrane experiments, in sequence, aboard a single Complex Autonomous Payload (CAP) carrier to be carried in the Shuttle Orbiter payload bay.

A palladium catalytic oxidizer is being developed to remove plant-generated oxygen from a closed plant growth chamber, replacing the oxygen with carbon dioxide gas and water vapor. The device will provide a relatively simple means of preventing oxygen build-up within the chamber. It may also be used to simulate man-in-the-loop at whatever scale is desired. Discussion is provided on how the device fits in with the development of the closed plant growth environmental chamber in the short term and with controlled ecological life support systems (CELSS) development in the longer term. Alternative means of oxygen removal are compared. The results of preliminary kinetics testing is presented.

Boeing Aerospace Company (BAC) is currently supporting studies in non-phase change methods for recovering wash water generated by space vehicle crews. The reverse osmosis technology appears to be promising for this application. Accordingly/Boeing embarked on an Independent Research and Development (IR and D) test of this technology in 1986. A laboratory reverse osmosis system was built using hollow fiber, tube-side feed membranes. These membranes, as supplied by Bend Research, Inc., were of polyamide material deposited within a polysulfone hollow fiber substrate. This paper reports the results of water recovery testing performed in the following three areas of interest: (1) general reverse osmosis membrane performance on baseline deionized water, soap, and salt solutions, (2) reverse osmosis performance on wash water, using actual shower water as a test media, and (3) bacteriological control methods for processing shower water.

This report compares parametric data for the following six waste management subsystems,as considered for use on the Space Station: (1) dry incineration, (2) wet oxidation, (3) supercritical water oxidation, (4) vapor compression distillation, (5) thermoelectric integrated membrane evaporation system, and (6) vapor phase catalytic ammonia removal. The parameters selected for comparison are on-orbit weight and volume, resupply and return to Earth logistics, power consumption, and heat rejection. Trades studies are performed on subsystem parameters derived from the most recent literature. The Boeing Engineering Trade Study, (BETS), an environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) trade study computer program developed by Boeing Aerospace Company, is used to properly size the subsystems under study.