Water, water everywhere, from swine lagoons to space and back
Next NASA Sigma series to explore wastewater recycling
HAMPTON — Using the bacteria from swine feces to cleanse wastewater is not as far-fetched of a concept as the phrase “when pigs fly.”
The technology to harvest organisms from swine lagoons to recycle wastewater has lift-off and is being perfected by those in the environmental engineering industry, including Hampton-based firm Pancopia.
Bill Cumbie, Pancopia’s CEO, will explore the science behind biological wastewater recycling, plus the challenges and opportunities of transporting and reusing water in space Tuesday during the this month’s Sigma Series “From Swine Lagoons to
Space and Back Again,” hosted by NASA Langley Research Center. The presentation is free and will be streamed live on the agency’s website due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Cumbie, an engineer with four decades of experience in water purification and reuse, was invited because the agency is interested learning more efficient uses of water as it readies to send humans to
Mars and back to the moon, spokeswoman
April Phillips said in an email.
He will begin with an overview on the necessity of preserving water and the high cost of transporting water into space and to the International Space Station.
Shipping one pound of water to space costs $10,000, Cumbie said. A gallon of water, which is the typical amount one astronaut uses in a day, weighs 8.3 pounds. It can cost $83,000 per day and up to $30 million a year for one astronaut, he said.
“Water is heavy,” says Rachel Willinger, Pancopia’s business manager. “And you can’t make it smaller, can’t make it lighter. You also can’t not bring it if there are people in space. There has to be water.”
Cumbie, looking at different wastewater recycling methods as a way to resolve issues in space, will discuss one being developed at Pancopia that uses anammox, a patented bacterium that can cut the cost of nitrogen removal from wastewater in half, he said.
The company, which opened in 2014 on Exploration Way, is developing methods to freeze-dry and rapidly reactivate organisms, some extracted from swine lagoons, which will degrade the waste and recycle it naturally. The natural method can work with other systems, such as reverse osmosis already in play, to help bring those recycling cost down and extend space missions, he said.
“Right now, NASA uses mechanical systems to recycle. It’s good and it’s effective, but it’s costly. Bacteria sort of work for free. Basically, their energy source is the food. The waste is the food.”
The Sigma lecture series begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and will be streamed at http://www.ustream.tv/ channel/nasa-lrc
For monthly email reminders about upcoming Sigma lectures, send a blank email to sigma-series-subscribe@lists.nasa.gov