Surfactant Biodegradation for Application to Advanced Life Support Water Recycling Systems

Abstract

Complete reuse of graywater will be essential during long-duration human space missions. The highest loaded and most important component to remove from graywater is surfactant, the active ingredient in soaps and detergents. When considering a biological treatment system for processing of graywater, surfactant biodegradability becomes a very important consideration. Surfactants should be chosen that are degraded at a fast rate and yield inconsequential degradation byproducts. Experiments conducted for this research examined the biodegradation of the surfactants in Pert Plus for Kids, disodium cocoamphodiacetate (DSCADA) and sodium laureth-3 sulfate (SLES), using respirometry. Rates of CO\d2 production, or ultimate degradation, are reported. DSCADA was found to be toxic to bacteria when present at 270 ppm whereas no toxicity was observed during experiments with SLES. Several surfactants were identified that may be encountered in a biological graywater treatment system including SLES, DSCADA, sodium alkyl benzene sulphonate, and alcohol ethoxylates. Biodegradation pathways for these surfactants are discussed and potential degradation byproducts are identified. Future experiments will focus on determination of Monod growth kinetics for the above-listed surfactants as well as examination of the potential persistence of their metabolites within a water reuse system.

Description:6 pages

Comments

Presented at International Conference on Environmental Systems, July 2004, Colorado Springs, CO, USA, Session: Biological Waste Processing & Microbial Processes

Keywords

kinetics, biodegradability, toxicity, respirometry

Date of this Version

July 2004

Identifier

ALS-NSCORT:p16

Publisher Identifier:

SAE Document Number: 2004-01-2513

Publisher

SAE International

ALS NSCORT Project Number

Project 6 - Bio-Regnerative Environmental Treatment for Health-air and water (BREATHe1)

Project Lead

M. Katherine Banks

Language

English

ALS NSCORT Series

Published Materials

Administrative Contact

Dave Kotterman, dkotter@purdue.edu

Rights

Copyright 2004 SAE International. For additional information please visit the intellectual property section of the publisher's website: http://www.sae.org/about/intelproperty/ or the publisher's home page at: http://www.sae.org

Access

This article is not available through e-pubs. To purchase a copy of this article visit: http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/2004-01-2513. This article is available on microfiche at Purdue University's Engineering Library.

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