Researchers from the University of Florida have successfully developed a process to convert human waste into fuel that will be used for NASA's rockets.
"It could be used on campus or around town, or anywhere, to convert waste into fuel," Pratap Pullammanappallil, a UF associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, said in a press release.
The space agency tapped scientists for this project as part of its plan to build a facility on the moon between 2019 and 2024 that will store human waste. Currently, human waste collected from spaceflights is being brought back to Earth, which only adds up to the rockets' heavy load. But storing all the waste on the moon's surface is also not ideal as it might end up as a dumpsite, so NASA funded the university to develop a process that will recycle human waste into fuel.
The researchers started the project by analyzing the amount of methane found in human waste and identify it will be enough to power the rocket instead. NASA provided the scientists all the materials they needed for the study. The supplies included chemically-produced and simulated waste, food waste, towels, washcloths, clothing, and packaging materials.
Along with graduate student Abhishek Dhoble, Pullammanappallil developed a process that kills pathogens from human waste and produces biogas.
"We were trying to find out how much methane can be produced from uneaten food, food packaging and human waste," said Pullammanappallil. "The idea was to see whether we could make enough fuel to launch rockets and not carry all the fuel and its weight from Earth for the return journey. Methane can be used to fuel the rockets. Enough methane can be produced to come back from the moon."
The analysis showed that the human waste of each crew can produce 290 liters of methane per week. This process can also be used for heating, electricity and transportation.
Further details of the study were published in Advances in Space Research.
