Water recovery in space

In the absence of recycling, wafer represents over 90% of the life-support consumables for a manned spacecraft. In addition, over 90% of the waste wat er generated can be classified as moderately or slightly contaminated (e.g. shower water, condensate from the air-conditioning system, etc.). The abil ity to recover potable water from moderately contaminated waste water hence enables significant savings to be made in resupply costs. A development mo del of such a water-recovery system, based on membrane technology has been produced and tested using 'real waste water' based on used shower water Res ults indicate some 95% recovery of potable wafer meeting ESA standards, wit h total elimination of microbial contaminants such as bacteria, spores and viruses.