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

• Published in: Journal of environmental management Vol. 222; pp. 37 - 43
• Main Authors: Li, Ting, Zhang, Liangchang, Ai, Weidang, Dong, Wenyi, Yu, Qingni
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 15.09.2018
• Subjects: Controlled ecological life support system; Domestic water supply system; MBR; Pollutant removal; Water allocation; Domestic water supply system; Controlled ecological life support system; Water allocation; MBR; Pollutant removal
• ISSN: 0301-4797; 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.05.023

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. The performance of DWSS to treat the real plant cabin's condensate water was examined during continuously 180-day experiment. The long-term operation results showed that, though the influent pollutant load changed as the experiment processing, the system exhibited stable performance on pollutants removal with average effluent TOC＜0.5 mg/L, NH4+-N＜0.02 mg/L, NO3−-N＜0.25 mg/L, NO2−-N＜0.001 mg/L, and displayed good capacity for controlling the trace metal ions and microorganism. The effluent through such modified MBR system was sufficiently allocated as hygiene water and potable water, and the average value was 39.69 and 10.93 L/d, respectively. The consumption of the modified MBR process was within the designed allowable scope. The outcomes of this study will be helpful for facilitating future applications of MBR as bio-based water supply technology in the CELSS. •A CELSS platform of 4-person-180-day integrated experiment was established in Shenzhen, China.•Modified MBR configuring advanced treatment units for water supply was constructed in CELSS.•Modified MBR continuously displayed good capacity for producing high-grade drinking water.•No metal ion accumulated in terminal effluent of modified MBR during 180-day experiments.•The effluent through MBR was sufficiently allocated as hygiene water and potable water.