Waste streams in a crewed space habitat

A compilation of generation rates and chemical compositions of potential waste streams in a typical crewed space habitat was made in connection with the waste-management aspect of NASA's Physical/Chemical Closed-Loop Life Support Program. Waste composition definitions are needed for the design of waste-processing technologies involved in closing major life support functions in future, long-duration, human space missions. Data for the constituents and chemical formulae of the following waste streams are presented and/or discussed: human urine, feces, hygiene (laundry and shower) water, cleansing agents, trash, humidity condensate, dried sweat, and trace contaminants. Data on dust generation are also presented and discussed.     

Waste management for space station freedom

Because of the tremendous task of designing, testing, building and maintaining the waste systems for Space Station Freedom, different methods of managing these systems are now being developed. This paper summarizes some of those methods. The first task for the design engineer is to develop systems and hardware to handle waste in the special conditions of the space station. Different closed and open loop systems, along with the development of new hardware in these loops, are being tested to meet this task. Some of the new hardware to be discussed are water and air monitors, hazardous material handling, and plumbing hardware such as commodes, showers and clothes washers. The second task is to develop methods to manage the process of developing these systems. Some of the areas to manage are testing information, materials, facilities, people, budgets, time, safety, legal responsibilities and testing standards. The last task is to incorporate the new technologies for other areas besides space stations. Other areas would include long-duration space missions, lunar stations and other non-space applications.     

Waste streams in a crewed space habitat II

A compilation of generation rates and chemical compositions of potential waste streams in a typical crewed space habitat, reported in a prior NASA Technical Memorandum and a related journal article, has been updated. This paper augments that compilation by the inclusion of the following new data: those uncovered since completion of the prior report; those obtained from Soviet literature relevant to life support issues; and those for various minor human body wastes not presented previously (saliva, flatus, hair, finger- and toenails, dried skin and skin secretions, tears and semen), but included here for purposes of completeness. These waste streams complement those discussed previously: toilet waste (urine, feces, etc.), hygiene water (laundry, shower/handwash, dishwash water and cleansing agents), trash, humidity condensate, perspiration and respiration water, trace contaminants and dust generation. This paper also reproduces the latest information on the environmental control and life support system design parameters for Space Station Freedom.     

Terrestrial approaches to integration of waste treatment

Solar energy driven physical, chemical and biological recycling of nutrients is the characteristic of the Earth-Sun system which permits life on earth to continue. Natural recycle of nutrients on Earth may literally require thousands or even millions of years to be complete, but for modern civilization to continue on Earth or in space, mankind must take charge of, and accelerate, the recycle of all essentials of life. In this paper we describe studies of two accelerated recycle systems; a solar powered energy system and an integrated feed lot. Both systems require special infrastructures permitting the accelerated physical, chemical and biological processing to occur. These systems do not integrate respiratory carbon dioxide as must be done in a complete closed ecological life support system (CELSS). The Algatron, a more complete system involving microalgal bacterial waste treatment with water, oxygen and carbon dioxide recycle was designed for use in Space Stations over 20 years ago.     

沙角A电厂综合污水处理工程

介绍了沙角A电厂絮凝沉降分离法综合污水处理工程的设计、调试和运行,对同类污水的处理具有借鉴作用。     

Waste battery treatment options: Comparing their environmental performance

Waste consumer batteries are recycled using different routes based on hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes. Two hydrometallurgical and two pyrometallurgical treatment scenarios are compared starting from an average composition of Belgian waste batteries. The environmental performance is compared using life cycle analysis (LCA). The recycling rate is studied through mass balance calculation.Each treatment scenario results in a specific recycling rate. The environmental impact and benefits also vary between the treatment options. There is no such thing as a typical hydrometallurgical or pyrometallurgical treatment. When applying a hydrometallurgical treatment scenario, the focus lies on zinc and iron recycling. When allowing manganese recycling, the energy demand of the hydrometallurgical process increases considerably. Both pyrometallurgical options recycle zinc, iron and manganese. According to the LCA, none of the treatment scenarios performs generally better or worse than the others. Each option has specific advantages and disadvantages. The Batteries Directive 2006/66/EC sets out a recycling rate of 50% for consumer waste batteries. Based on metal recycling alone, the mass balances show that the target is difficult to obtain.     

Waste recycling policy in Hong Kong

The positive non-intervention policy adopted by the Hong Kong Government has successfully led Hong Kong to an economically prosperous stage. Nevertheless, the extension of this policy to the area of waste management and waste recycling is a major reason for the sluggish waste recovery rate in Hong Kong even given the fact that Hong Kong is experiencing perhaps the greatest pressure from waste disposal in the world. The official approach to waste recycling is one of bottom-up promotion and encouragement of recycling through environmental education. While environmental education is indispensable in the course of promoting waste recycling, the use of top-down measures, such as legislation and fiscal policies, may be needed for a sustainable waste management. Waste management in Hong Kong has meant “coping with” the continuous growth in waste volume. However, in other areas of environmental management, such as air, water and noise, economic and regulatory instruments like tax differentiation and legislative control have been employed thus showing that a deviation from the minimal regulation requirement is sometimes considered justifiable. The low priority given to waste management and waste recycling for top-down measures leads to the loss of a lot of precious and non-renewable resources, and detriment to the welfare of future generations.     

Waste settlement in bioreactor landfill models

Prediction of landfill settlement is one of the important parameters that affects the design and maintenance of bioreactor landfills. Due to the large number of variables involved in the settlement mechanism, accurate prediction of landfill settlement is a real challenge. The operational protocol of a landfill, the presence of municipal sludge from treatment plants, the addition of soybean peroxidase (SBP) enzymes, and the fraction of organic matter in the municipal solid waste (MSW) have to be reflected in the parameters of any model used to predict the settlement of MSW. In this work, a biodegradation-induced settlement model incorporating two parameters (A and B) was developed. The settlement data of two researchers were used to estimate the parameter values with two different approaches; the first considered the overall experiment and results, and the second separated the aerobic phase, if present, from the anaerobic phase. The rate of initial settlement occurring under aerobic conditions has been greater than that under anaerobic conditions. Parameters increased with the increase in the concentration of enzymes and with the presence of sludge in both aerobic and anaerobic stages. Increasing organic content of MSW has resulted in the enhancement of the biodegradation rate and settlement. This has been reflected on the higher values of the parameters compared to their values in the absence of organic waste.     

Physical and chemical processes for solid waste treatment applied to a crewed space habitat

Solid wastes can be processed for material and energy recovery using a number of unit operations and system approaches. The selection and configuration of unit operations and systems depends upon the characteristics of the wastes to be processed and the uses for recovered secondary materials and for recovered energy forms. The discussion focuses on the types of materials and forms of energy potentially recoverable from solid wastes, waste processing and conversion systems, and design considerations.     

Minimizing waste polymers in space

Waste polymers, essentially plastic packages, make up a significant fraction of solid wastes in a crewed space habitat. While logistic limitations preclude consideration of recovery/recycling technologies that have proven viable on Earth, the challenge in space is to provide materials and processes that minimize the volume of stored waste plastics and which allow recovery at the completion of a mission.     

Utilization of Waste Lignin and Hydrolysate From Chromium Tanned Waste in Blends of Hot-Melt Extruded PVA-Starch

The demand for biodegradable plastic material is increasing worldwide. However, the cost remains high in comparison with common forms of plastic. Requirements comprise low cost, good UV-stability and mechanical properties, as well as solubility and water uptake lead to the preparation of multi-component polymer blends based on polyvinyl alcohol and starch in combination with waste products that are hard to utilize—waste lignin and hydrolysate extracted from chromium tanned waste. Surprisingly the addition of such waste products into PVA gives rise to blends with better biodegradability than commercial PVA in an aquatic aerobic environment with non-adapted activated sludge. These blends also exhibited greater solubility in the water and UV stability than commercial PVA. Tests on the processing properties of the blends (melt flow index, tensile strength and elongation at break of the films) as well as their mechanical properties showed that materials based on these blends might be applied in agriculture (for example as the systems for controlled-release pesticide or fertilizer) and, somewhat, in the packaging sector.     

Biodegradation of Waste Cellulose

Environmental issues such as the depletion of nonrenewable energy resources and pollution are very topical and would need more scientific attention in order to be addressed in a way beneficial to life. The extent of solid waste production is a global concern and development of its bioenergy potential can simultaneously address issues such as pollution control and renewable energy development. Various wastepaper materials, a major component of solid waste, have been treated with cellulase from Trichoderma viride to bioconvert its cellulose component into fermentable sugars that could be utilized as feedstock for bioproduct development. These paper materials exhibited different susceptibilities toward the cellulase and showed different sugarreleasing patterns when increasing amounts of each paper were treated with the enzyme. Bioconversion of paper with different enzyme concentrations and during various time intervals also resulted in nonsimilar sugar-releasing patterns. With all the paper materials, a general decline in efficiency was observed with increasing amounts of sugar produced during the different bioconversion variables investigated.     

Waste management activities and carbon emissions in Africa

This paper summarizes research into waste management activities and carbon emissions from territories in sub-Saharan Africa with the main objective of quantifying emission reductions (ERs) that can be gained through viable improvements to waste management in Africa. It demonstrates that data on waste and carbon emissions is poor and generally inadequate for prediction models. The paper shows that the amount of waste produced and its composition are linked to national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Waste production per person is around half that in developed countries with a mean around 230 kg/hd/yr. Sub-Saharan territories produce waste with a biogenic carbon content of around 56% (+/−25%), which is approximately 40% greater than developed countries. This waste is disposed in uncontrolled dumps that produce large amounts of methane gas. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from waste will rise with increasing urbanization and can only be controlled through funding mechanisms from developed countries.     

Improvement of Waste Recycling in PET Fiber Production

Production of polyethylene teraphtalate (PET) fiber in the world is increasing every year and reached to an amount of about 20 million tons a year in 2001. The wastes occur in the production of PET fiber in the amount of about 3–5% of total production. The PET does not degrade for a long time in nature. Since PET is a derivative of petroleum, the wastes of PET are valuable and must be recycled. One of the recycling method of PET wastes is re-melting. Thus, various properties of the PET wastes were improved using the re-melting method by employing an extruder manufactured for the work. Degradation during re-melting decreases the properties of the final product. The results indicate that the properties of recycled PET wastes can be monitored by designing the parameters of the extruder. Also, the further degradation of the material can be prevented and the recycling costs are minimized.     

中国废旧农用塑料薄膜的回收与利用

介绍了中国废旧农用塑料薄膜回收利用的现状;重点阐述了中国废旧农膜再生造粒技术,从工艺、成本利益、再生粒料的应用市场等各方面对该技术进行了详细的介绍和剖析,在论述其优越性的同时,指出了再生造粒技术存在的问题,为研究人员今后的研究工作指明了方向;最后对废旧农膜再生造粒技术的应用前景进行了展望.     

四氯化钛精制除钒废弃物的综合利用

对四氯化钛铜丝除钒精制过程中产生的废弃物,采用酸碱联合法回收其中的铜和钒。考察了关键的碱处理及盐酸沉钒过程的影响因素。实验结果为：在碱处理溶液pH12．0—13．0,碱处理温度60℃,碱处理时间1h,沉钒溶液pH1．0～1．5,沉钒温度60℃,沉钒时间1h的条件下,铜和钒的回收率分别达到90％和75％以匕,获得的阴极铜和五氧化二钒的产品质量均达到国家标准。     

环己烷氧化废碱液的回收利用

介绍了一种从环己烷氧化废碱液中回收高价值有机酸的新方法。用氢氧化钠碱熔处理废碱液中的羟基己酸及其聚合物，可使废碱液中己二酸的质量分数由3．18％提高到8．74％，且环境效益和经济效益显著。