Urine and grey water based liquid fertilizer - Production and the response of plants.

Plant cultivation is a key aspect of future long-distance space missions, and the creation of an efficient food system will not be possible without it. The production of fertilizer in space is based on the recovery of water and nutrients from wastewater, such as urine and grey water. In this study, the fertilizer production process was conducted in an aerobic, activated sludge reactor, where nitrification and the process of carbon removal take place.

Urine nitrification robustness for application in space: Effect of high salinity and the response to extreme free ammonia concentrations.

Urine nitrification is one of the possibilities for the future recovery of water and elements for soilless crop production in space systems. The start-up of artificial urine nitrification was conducted for over 85 days in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR). Two free ammonia (FA) incidents occurred, which gave the opportunity to demonstrate the impressive ability of nitrifiers to resist temporary inhibition by FA without long lasting adverse effects.

An overview of blackwater data collection from space life support systems and its comparison to a terrestrial wastewater dataset.

Extraterrestrial colonization is a certain eventuality that would be nearly impossible without the efficient and robust resources of recovering life support systems. Knowledge of inputs is necessary for the development of such systems, especially for the first stages of design such as mass balancing and the selection of unitary processes. One of the most important inputs is blackwater, as this stream is the most polluted and rich in resources and needs to be treated and reused.