Biological Process Enables Human Powered Rockets; Well, Kind Of.

You may have heard about NASA's 3D printed spare parts aboard the International Space Station which have made long term space travel conceivable. But, what else do we need for space travel? Rocket Fuel. And, the researchers at the University of Florida have invented a process to obtain rocket fuel on-the-fly (pun intended). The raw material for this process is: Human waste. This (quite unusual) discovery was made by a University of Florida associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, Pratap Pullammanappallil.

One of the major concerns in the human space expeditions is the problem of handling of human wastes, solid as well as liquid. Extreme care has to be taken to ensure that the space shuttle as well as the outer space is not contaminated with the bacteria. NASA stores human waste in containers until it’s loaded into space cargo vehicles that burn as they pass back through the Earth’s atmosphere. For future long-term missions, like the lunar habitation program, it would be impractical to bring all the stored waste back to Earth. Therefore, NASA approached UFlorida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences faculty member Pratap Pullammanappallil to test ideas that utilize the methane extracted from the human waste to power the rockets.


Pullammanappallil and Abhishek Dhoble, now a doctoral student at the University of Illinois ran tests on packaged form of chemically produced human waste that also included simulated food waste, towels, wash cloths, clothing and packaging materials, all supplied by NASA, to determine the amount and rate of methane produced. They found that about 290 liters of methane could be produced by the crew if an anaerobic digester process, which kills pathogens from human waste, and produces biogas -- a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide by breaking down organic matter in waste is used.

On the ground, too, this process can readily be used for heating, generating electricity or for transportation. Also, the digestion process would produce about 200 gallons of non-potable water annually from all the waste. Through electrolysis, the water can then be split into hydrogen and oxygen, and the astronauts can breathe oxygen as a back-up system. The exhaled carbon dioxide and hydrogen can be converted to methane and water in the process, therefore, kind of regenerating the system.

So if any of you have a bad case of diarrhea next time, take heart and seriously consider a career as an astronaut.

Source: Process converts human waste into rocket fuel - News - University of Florida