Three-Step Technology in One Product

Hydromars participates with leading Institutes and multinationals in several European research programs to separate different types of wastewater into absolutely pure water

 

Purifying complex wastewater streams (e.g., human waste or industrial effluents) has always been a challenge on Earth and Space. Using a series of state-of-the-art technologies as many as 12 different ones, systems are developed to produce drinking water from such streams. Moreover, for long-haul space applications, recovery rates become a key performance indicator where current systems struggle to pass recovery rates greater than 90%.

Nevertheless, Hydromars through its system aims to crack the code of these problems and offers a solution that operates in a closed loop like in the hydraulic cycle.

Through decades of pioneering research and successful tests, Hydromars proposes a system based on 3 different steps:

  1. Thermal Pervaporation to produce ultrapure water
  2. Gas separation to remove all volatiles
  3. Crystallization to concentrate sludge/ nutrients and separate remaining water.

Hydromars’ technology having separation efficiency of greater than 98% running in a closed loop would result in a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) system for space applications. The systems’ consistent performance in producing high-quality water, robustness, and minimal maintenance requirements allows this technology to be competitive in CAPEX investments and have low OPEX costs too.

Benefits

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High Separation Efficiency

Maximizing on thermal pervaporation phenomenon, this single-step cleaning within the unit provides separation efficiency of >95%

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Modularity

Modular system suited for rapid scale-up to accommodate water requirements for a range of manned space missions

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Easy Integration

With simple process and minimal inputs, this unit could be easily coupled into space shuttles’ Water recovery systems and could operate as retrofitted or stand-alone solution

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Dynamic Operations

The unit is designed to clean a range of waste feedwater streams, suitable for providing flexibility to life support systems’ operations in space

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Sustainable & Safe Process

Higher pure water recovery rates producing less sludge and free from chemicals or precious elements. Unit is not pressurized or have high operating temperatures eliminating safety risks

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Reduced Service & Maintenance

Robust system with minimal moving parts and no parts’ replacement requirements limiting the need of extensive service & maintenance activities

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Reduced Process Complexity

Considering ISS’s Water recovery system, generation of potable water at the station could be reduced to simpler 7-8 steps as compared to current 11-12 steps

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Compact Design

Offering smaller footprint and with few hardware components, this unit caters for both area and weight limitations necessary for space missions

Test results

Test for Amount Method Limit Test by Result
Chlorine 3.4 mg/l Photometric analysis (Perkin Elmer) 0.01 mg/l Water Protection Association of South West Finland BDL
Salt water 31 ppm Ion chromatography 1 ppm VBB Viak Stockholm BDL
Cesium, Strontium, Plutonium, Radium 2.4 Bq Lithium Drifted Germanium Detector 0.1 Bq Radiation Physics Department, University of Lund BDL
Arsenic +3 10 mg/l AAS Graphite 0.003 mg/l Analytica AB, Stockholm BDL
Arsenic +5 10 mg/l AAS Graphite 0.003 mg/l Analytica AB, Stockholm BDL
Ag nanoparticles 3100 μg/l HPLC 2 μg/l IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute BDL
SiO₂ 10 μg/l AAS 5 μg/l Vattenfall AB, Stockholm BDL
Setralin and other pharmaceuticals 4 ng/l HPLC 0.8 ng/l IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute BDL
Radon 380 Bq/l Alfa detection 4 Bq/l Swedish Radiation Protection Institute BDL
Bacteria 14000 Membrane filter count Membrane filter count 0 Membrane filter count National Bacteriologic Laboratory, Stockholm BDL
Trihalomethanes 1 μg/l Gas chromatography 1 μg/l University of Turku BDL