Design and establishment of a large-scale controlled ecological life-support system integrated experimental platform.

A Controlled Ecological Life-Support System (CELSS) can meet the demands of food, oxygen, and water for human, as well as providing psychological benefits during deep space exploration by the continuous materials regeneration. Many key techniques of the platform are needed to explore before applying to the extraterrestrial planets. In this study, a large-scale CELSS integrated experimental platform was designed and constructed to meet the basic life-support material demands of six crew members (max).

Operation overview of a biological waste treatment system during the 4-crew 180-day integrated experiment in the controlled ecological life support system (CELSS).

Waste management and treatment is vital to health care and material circulation, especially in the Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) with finite resources for long-duration manned space missions. A closed ecological-cycle integrated 4-crew 180-day experiment platform was established to investigate the key technologies such as effective cultivation of higher plant, water treatment and recycling, waste management and treatment. In this study, generated waste during the integrated experiment was classified as renewable and non-renewable waste.

Wheat Cultivation and Nutrient Control for the 180-day CELSS Integrated Experiment.

This research aimed to select the well-adapted wheat cultivar and to explore an optimum nutrient control pattern for wheat cultivation in the 180-day integrated experiment of controlled ecological life support system (CELSS). In the experiment, six wheat cultivars from different areas of China were preselected and cultivated in four separate recirculating hydroponic systems (HySy), nutrients in which could be controlled and recycled according the values of pH, electrical conductivity (EC) and dissolved oxygen (DO). Wheat covered an area of 111.

Deactivation Kinetics of Polyethylenimine-based Adsorbents Used for the Capture of Low Concentration CO.

CO emission is generally regarded as the major contributor to global climate change, and polyethylenimine (PEI)-based CO adsorbents are promising materials for the capture of low concentration CO. This paper deals with the deactivation kinetics of PEI-based CO adsorbents used for the capture of low concentration CO. EA and TG analyses demonstrated that thermal degradation and O-induced deactivation of the adsorbents occurred simultaneously under air exposure conditions.

Water management in a controlled ecological life support system during a 4-person-180-day integrated experiment: Configuration and performance.

Water management subsystem (WMS) is a major component of the controlled ecological life support system (CELSS). For guaranteeing the water requirement of crop growth and crewmember's daily life, a WMS was established in a 4 person 180-day integrated experiment (carried out in Shenzhen, China, 2016) to maintain a closed cycle with a total water amount of ~23 m. The design and operation of the WMS was summarized as follows: (1) Collection and allocation of condensate water.

A modified MBR system with post advanced purification for domestic water supply system in 180-day CELSS: Construction, pollutant removal and water allocation.

Water supply was vital to people's life, especially inside Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) for long-term space exploration. A platform of 4-person-180-day integrated experiment inside a CELSS including 6 cabins called 'SPACEnter' was established in Shenzhen, China. Based on this platform, a Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) system configuring post advanced purification, including I-MBR, II-MBR, nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), ion-exchange (IE), polyiodide disinfection (PI) and mineralization (MC) stages, used as a Domestic Water Supply System (DWSS) to guarantee crew's daily life was constructed.

Non-methane hydrocarbons in a controlled ecological life support system.

Non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) are vital to people's health and plants' growth, especially inside a controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) built for long-term space explorations. In this study, we measured 54 kinds of NMHCs to study their changing trends in concentration levels during a 4-person-180-day integrated experiment inside a CELSS with four cabins for plants growing and other two cabins for human daily activities and resources management. During the experiment, the total mixing ratio of measured NMHCs was 423 ± 283 ppbv at the first day and it approached 2961 ± 323 ppbv ultimately.

Aromatic hydrocarbons in a controlled ecological life support system during a 4-person-180-day integrated experiment.

Indoor air quality is vital to the health and comfort of people who live inside a controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) built for long-term space explorations. Here we measured aromatic hydrocarbons to assess their sources and health risks during a 4-person-180-day integrated experiment inside a CELSS with four cabins for growing crops, vegetables and fruits and other two cabins for working, accommodations and resources management. During the experiment, the average concentrations of benzene, ethylbenzene, m,p-xylenes and o-xylene were found to decrease exponentially from 7.

Simultaneous Online Measurement of H2O and CO2 in the Humid CO2 Adsorption/Desorption Process.

A dew point meter (DP) and an infrared (IR) CO2 analyzer were assembled in a humid CO2 adsorption/desorption system in series for simultaneous online measurements of H2O and CO2, respectively. The humidifier, by using surface-flushing on a saturated brine solution was self-made for the generation of humid air flow. It was found that by this method it became relatively easy to obtain a low H2O content in air flow and that its fluctuation could be reduced compared to the bubbling method.

Measurement and ANN prediction of pH-dependent solubility of nitrogen-heterocyclic compounds.

Based on the solubility of 25 nitrogen-heterocyclic compounds (NHCs) measured by saturation shake-flask method, artificial neural network (ANN) was employed to the study of the quantitative relationship between the structure and pH-dependent solubility of NHCs. With genetic algorithm-multivariate linear regression (GA-MLR) approach, five out of the 1497 molecular descriptors computed by Dragon software were selected to describe the molecular structures of NHCs. Using the five selected molecular descriptors as well as pH and the partial charge on the nitrogen atom of NHCs (QN) as inputs of ANN, a quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) model without using Henderson-Hasselbalch (HH) equation was successfully developed to predict the aqueous solubility of NHCs in different pH water solutions.

Direct electron transfer from electrode to electrochemically active bacteria in a bioelectrochemical dechlorination system.

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) was dechlorinated by electrochemically active bacteria using an electrode as the direct electron donor. Dechlorination efficiency and coulombic efficiency (CE) were investigated. When hydrogen evolution reaction was eliminated by controlling the potential, both dechlorination efficiency and CE increase as the potential decreases, which implied the dechlorination was stimulated by electric current rather than hydrogen gas.