Nitrogenisor: Microbial technology to generate N2 as neutral gas from urine in Space.

Long-duration human spaceflight has gained more public interest in recent years yet comes with grand and unique engineering challenges. Cabin pressure is predominantly dictated by the amount of inert nitrogen gas present and small losses in long missions may create conditions not fit for life. At present day, no space technology exists to generate lost nitrogen gas from locally available resources. On Earth, nitrogen gas is microbially regenerated with bacteria performing denitrification or anammox, processes which have been successfully applied in for instance wastewater treatment plants. This study aims to extrapolate such microbial technology to space applications, where the nitrogen present in urine of astronauts can be converted to inert nitrogen gas. The "Nitrogenisor" will use partial nitritation/anammox as energy- and resource-efficient process with minimum co-production of carbon dioxide. Application of this process in a membrane-aerated biofilm reactor will enable gravity independent aeration. Nitrogenisor would decrease the need to haul nitrogen gas from Earth, while simultaneously mitigating risks linked to the waste produced on the spaceflight.

Keywords:NITROGEN CYCLE, SPACEFLIGHT, WASTEWATER TREATMENT, URINE

Disciplines:Astronomy and space sciences not elsewhere classified, Aerospace engineering not elsewhere classified, (Waste)water treatment processes, Environmental microorganism biotechnology