摘要
Developments of economic systems are critical for bio-regenerative life support systems in manned space missions.In this work we report on the feasibility of using two direct sunlight powered processes sequentially for the recovery of water and nutrients from urine.The work presents experimental evidence on nutrient and water recovery achieved using the proto-type designed and developed.We report the design and testing of a solar still which would serve on the nutrient recovery front.The cooled condensate from the solar still is fed into a solar powered electrolysis unit where nano-structured indium sulphide(In_(2)S_(3))thin films coated over fluorine doped tin oxide(SnO_(2):F)substrate serve as one of the working electrodes.The electrolysis takes place in the absence of an electrolyte which manifests as a technical achievement of our work.Our results show that the COD level in the recycled water is very low.The In_(2)S_(3)photo-electrodes are stable without any physical damage after the process.
基金
R.Jayakrishnan thanks KSCSTE for funding this work under the SPYTiS scheme(Grant No.25/SPYTiS III/2017/KSCSTE)
also thanks DoECC,Government of Kerala for supporting the work(Grant No.DoECC/E3/R&D/1751/2017).
