<p><br /> In between the news about water on Mars, clues of life on Jupiter or a new stars being formed at our galaxy's edge, there is a less glamorous side of space exploration: what to do with astronauts' urine!<br /><br /></p>.<p>Human waste on long-term journeys into space makes up about half of the mission's total waste.<br /><br />Recycling it is critical to keeping a clean environment for astronauts.<br /><br />Rather than ejecting astronauts' pee into space, scientists are now developing a new technique that can turn this waste burden into a boon by converting it into fuel and much-needed drinking water.<br /><br />"When onboard water supplies run low, treated urine can become a source of essential drinking water, which would otherwise have to be delivered from earth at a tremendous cost," explained NASA researcher Eduardo Nicolau.<br /><br />Previous research has shown that a wastewater treatment process called forward osmosis in combination with a fuel cell can generate power.<br /><br />The researchers collected urine and shower wastewater and processed it using forward osmosis - a way to filter contaminants from urea - a major component of urine, and water.<br /><br />Their new Urea Bioreactor Electrochemical system (UBE) efficiently converted the urea into ammonia in its bioreactor, and then turned the ammonia into energy with its fuel cell.<br /><br />"The system was designed with space missions in mind, but the results showed that the UBE system could be used in any wastewater treatment systems containing urea and/or ammonia," Nicolau said in a report that appeared in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.</p>
<p><br /> In between the news about water on Mars, clues of life on Jupiter or a new stars being formed at our galaxy's edge, there is a less glamorous side of space exploration: what to do with astronauts' urine!<br /><br /></p>.<p>Human waste on long-term journeys into space makes up about half of the mission's total waste.<br /><br />Recycling it is critical to keeping a clean environment for astronauts.<br /><br />Rather than ejecting astronauts' pee into space, scientists are now developing a new technique that can turn this waste burden into a boon by converting it into fuel and much-needed drinking water.<br /><br />"When onboard water supplies run low, treated urine can become a source of essential drinking water, which would otherwise have to be delivered from earth at a tremendous cost," explained NASA researcher Eduardo Nicolau.<br /><br />Previous research has shown that a wastewater treatment process called forward osmosis in combination with a fuel cell can generate power.<br /><br />The researchers collected urine and shower wastewater and processed it using forward osmosis - a way to filter contaminants from urea - a major component of urine, and water.<br /><br />Their new Urea Bioreactor Electrochemical system (UBE) efficiently converted the urea into ammonia in its bioreactor, and then turned the ammonia into energy with its fuel cell.<br /><br />"The system was designed with space missions in mind, but the results showed that the UBE system could be used in any wastewater treatment systems containing urea and/or ammonia," Nicolau said in a report that appeared in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.</p>