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Demonstration of Plasma Assisted Waste Conversion to Gas

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Demonstration of Plasma Assisted Waste Conversion to Gas 49th International Conference on Environmental Systems ICES-2019-128 7-11 July 2019, Boston, Massachusetts Demonstration of Plasma Assisted Waste Conversion to Gas Anne Meier, Ph.D.1 and Malay Shah2 National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Kennedy Space Center, FL, 32899, USA Kenneth Engeling3 University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109-2104, USA and Katerina Quinn4 University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA The National Aeronautic and Space Administration Science Technology Mission Directorate Center Innovation Project at Kennedy Space Center funded a one year investigation for the development of a DC plasma torch to test the conversion of solid and liquid mission waste to gas. The volume reduction of mission waste is needed to advance waste processing for vent gases on board space vehicles and space habitats for long duration missions. The selected plasma torch operated with an input voltage of 120 VAC and a plasma pilot arc power of approximately 400 W using air as a baseline carrier gas. To date, the team has demonstrated early concepts of plasma assisted waste conversion of the following materials: cotton hygiene material, astronaut clothing, plastics (i.e. polyethylene and nylon), astronaut food packaging, paper, fecal waste simulant, and degrading plant matter (i.e. inedible biomass waste). The reactions took place in a quartz cylindrical test cell, where waste was loaded into a quartz crucible and monitored with optical video. The initial reactions included a multi-stage process that was primarily plasma combustion. The reaction product gas was qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed with a gas chromatograph and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy instrument. The initial results of the system show the volume reduction from solid to gas in the form of useful products such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane and light hydrocarbons. This paper will discuss the project development and results regarding waste conversion, power performance and volume reduction for a plasma space waste processing system. Nomenclature AC = Alternating current Al = Aluminum Ar = Argon CH4 = Methane C2H4 = Ethylene C2H6 = Ethane CIF = Center Innovation Fund CO = Carbon monoxide CO2 = Carbon dioxide 1 Analytical Laboratories Branch Lead, Laboratory, Development & Testing Division, Mail Stop NE-L3. 2 Mechanical Engineer, Engineering Analysis, Mail Stop NE-XY. 3 Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences. 4 B.S. Student, Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. COTS = Commercial Off the Shelf Dry GC = Dry golden cherry tomato biomass Dry GD = Dry golden dwarf tomato biomass EVA = Extra vehicular activity FP = Food Packaging FTIR = Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy GC = Gas chromatograph H2 = Hydrogen He = Helium HDPE = High density polyethylene ISS = International Space Station JSC = Johnson Space Center K = Kelvin Kg = Kilogram KSC = Kennedy Space Center kVA = Kilovolt-ampere LEO = Low earth orbit MAG = maximum absorbency garment MSW = Municipal solid waste N2 = Nitrogen NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration OES = Optical emission spectroscopy SBIR = Small Business Innovative Research SLMP = Standard liters per minute STMD = Science Technology Mission Directorate Syngas = Synthetic gas TCD = Thermal conductivity detector TGA = Thermal gravimetric analysis US = United States VAC = Volts AC W = Watts I. Introduction The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) Center Innovation Fund (CIF) Project at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) funded a one year investigation for the development of a reactor utilizing a DC plasma torch to test the conversion of solid and liquid mission waste to gas. Advanced waste processing technologies are necessary to reduce the overall volume of solid mission waste on a crewed spacecraft or habitat by turning it into a safe vent gas. Plasma gasification is theoretically the most ideal technology to convert waste to a synthetic gas (syngas) or inert gas (such as permanent gases), due to the ionization of waste and a clean product gas stream. Rather than burn, plasma gasification uses high heat from the plasma to degrade materials to their basic molecular elemental form. The primary gas products of organics after plasma gasification are usually H2, CO, CH4, and CO2. Inorganics are melted and reduce to an inert slag. Most logistical waste on the International Space Station (ISS) produced by astronauts is low in inorganic material. A low power plasma application is key for novelty of the technology development for plasma waste conversion applications, since power is a major design constraint for long duration travel on board spacecraft and habitation systems. Here we describe some of the background of space mission waste, plasma and other low power applications, as well as the experimentation that took place with a DC plasma torch at KSC to convert various space feedstocks into gaseous products. Colonization of other planets, terrestrial bodies, or hotels in space have been frequently discussed from commercial space ventures. On Earth, municipal solid waste management is one of the most imperative services a city can provide to its residents, which would likely parallel to large-scale colonization in space. The effects of mismanaging waste processing culminates in higher costs downstream compared to the initial cost of managing waste properly at inception. Since waste is often tended to at a local government level, developing countries often spend the largest portion of budget on solid waste management1. According to the United States (US) Environmental Protection Agency 2 International Conference on Environmental Systems (EPA), approximately 2.03 kilograms (kg) of municipal solid waste (MSW) are generated per person per day, which equated to 262.4 million tons in 2015, primarily consisting of paper and plastics2. This MSW value is increasing to approximately 1.3 billion tons per year and estimated to reach 2.2 billion tons per year by 20251. In the US, approximately 53% of the MSW is sent to landfills, while 25% is recycled, 13% is combusted for energy recovery, and 9% is composted. These US statistics do not include the new restrictions of China’s elimination of recycled mixed plastic programs, which now leaves much of the recycling, formally destined for China, back into US landfills as of 2019. In 2014 China generated approximately 178.6 million tons of MSW3. In general, affluent countries produce more MSW per capita, and in 2012 some of the highest generation per capita included Switzerland, Denmark, and Cyprus4. MSW generation has increased from the start of recording the data since 1960 and continues to steadily increase. MSW includes items such as corrugated boxes, food, yard waste, sofas, computers, tires and refrigerators, but not everything that is landfilled – such as construction and demolition debris, wastewater sludge or non-hazardous industrial waste – is reported and captured in the MSW values. Waste reduction and conversion techniques are not only imperative for Earth based landfill reduction and waste management, but will also be imperative for sending humans beyond Low Earth Orbit (LEO) for Space Missions, especially for future colonization. For a crew of four on a 1-year mission, a total of ~2,600 kg of crew-related waste mass including life support system consumables and crew consumables are estimated to be generated5. Waste will include items such as clothing, hygiene items, food, food packaging, food storage containers, extra vehicular activity (EVA) and medical supplies, feces, brine (urine, sweat), and life support system supplies. It has been previously described how NASA is investing in technologies6 to down select for future outpost waste conversion systems, as well as scenarios for different waste management schemes at various space destinations7,8. Plasma for waste conversion has only been recently introduced and considered for this space application9. We still seek to convert waste from solid to gas for safe venting or as fuel generation in this plasma application.10 Traditional thermal waste processes typically include gasification, incineration, and pyrolysis. Incineration temperatures can reach up to 1,500 ºC, where a series of ignition, complete oxidation, neutralization, condensing and ash generation occurs. The primary product of incineration on the industrial level is usually heat generated from the cooling process that creates steam to generate electricity and is one of the lowest efficiencies in the thermal process at ~35%4. Pyrolysis uses limited or no oxygen and has one of the highest efficiencies of thermal utilization between 80- 90%, but a low gas yield at less than 40% (i.e. using biomass) due to high tar vapor production11. Temperatures can reach approximately 900 ºC during pyrolysis, with primary products as hydrocarbons, but have the disadvantage of producing harmful byproduct chemicals and are costly at the industrial scale to clean up. Gasification can range from 600 to 1,100 ºC to produce syngas for electrical and heat energy. The partial oxidation process of gasification must maintain high temperature to avoid dangerous formation of dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and other catastrophic and harmful compounds that form below the reaction temperature. Plasma has gained more attention recently in combination with gasification and combustion as it can destruct solids into syngas products, while forming the inert
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