SBIR-STTR Award

The proposed work herein focuses on waste subsystems with emphasis on odor control associated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The development of efficient odor removal systems for use inside lunar mission architectures is one of NASA's critical needs (Topic X2.03). Because of the limited space and resources in both exploration vehicles and non-moving habitats, it is important for a treatment system to be compact, lightweight, and robust, and have low energy and material input requirements with the ultimate focus on reducing equivalent systems mass (ESM). Professors at the University of Florida have developed a novel, robust, and highly effective Silica-Titania Composite (STC) capable of adsorbing and oxidizing VOCs to harmless byproducts. The technology has been licensed by Sol-gel Solutions, LLC. In preparation for the design and fabrication of a prototype for validation in a relevant environment during a Phase II study, the evaluation and optimization of two potential configurations employing the STC is proposed. One configuration would employ continuous UV irradiation, and the other would employ intermittent UV. The ultimate goal is to determine which configuration results in a lower Equivalent Systems Mass (ESM).

The work proposed herein focuses on waste subsystems with emphasis on odor control associated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The development of efficient odor removal systems for use inside lunar architectures is one of NASA's critical needs (2008 SBIR Topic X2.03). Because of the limited space and resources in both exploration vehicles and non-moving habitats, a treatment system must be compact, lightweight, and robust, and have low energy and material input requirements, with focus on reducing equivalent system mass (ESM). We have developed a novel, robust, and highly effective Silica-Titania Composite (STC) technology capable of adsorbing and oxidizing VOCs to harmless byproducts when irradiated with UV light. The effectiveness of the technology for removal of ethanol from air when irradiated continuously with UV was proven under Phase I. This Phase II proposal will focus on the design, fabrication, and evaluation of a prototype employing the STC technology with UV LEDs as the light source, challenged with several VOCs simultaneously. The prototype will be designed based on the requirements of the Lunar Habitat in NASA's Lunar Outpost mission. Revised ESM calculations will be completed after system optimization, and a final prototype will be delivered to NASA for future testing.