Turning Urine To Drinking Water, NASA Backed Tech Can Help India Solve Water Issue

Space agencies NASA and ESA have turned to nature to solve a problem encountered by the astronauts in space.

Effective water filtration in space being a tough puzzle to solve, an innovative technology using aquaporins - the membrane proteins that enable transfer of water in all living cells, is now being hailed as the solution.

Astronauts on the ISS testing prototype water purification systems based on membranes infused aquaporin proteins. (Image: NASA Spinoff)

¡°Nature is our biggest R&D lab. Whatever discoveries nature has made, they¡¯re quite efficient,¡± says Peter Holme Jensen, CEO and cofounder of the company Aquaporin A/S. The Danish company is responsible for the system based on aquaporins through which plant roots absorb water from soil and human kidneys to filter about 45 gallons of fluid per day.

Serving Space Residents

NASA is interested in the company¡¯s forward osmosis filter, a technology that operates without any energy or outside influence, the space agency explains in a note. Instead of applying pressure to make the water pass through a filter membrane, forward osmosis acts as a sponge to suck up water from nearby cells through the membrane. The membranes thus have a very low tendency to clog, explains Michael Flynn, lead for the Advanced Water Recycling group at NASA¡¯s Ames Research Center.

Flynn further notes that forward osmosis can handle very dirty water, even eliminating the need for distillation. In Ames¡¯ case, sugar water is used to extract clean water from urine, an application that serves as a life-saver for astronauts in space. The prime benefit - the technology allows us to cut down on the great cost of ferrying water into space.

Another plus is that it is better than the technology being used for the purpose right now. The current system on the International Space Station (ISS) uses heavy filtration beds ¡°that weigh down resupply missions and have to be swapped out every 90 days,¡± states NASA in the note. These systems also fail to filter out certain semivolatile contaminants.

Powerful formula

Aquaporin A/S HFFO2 module suitable for application development and pilot trials. (Image: Aquaporin A/S)

Jensen claims that the company¡¯s reverse osmosis products ¡°filter water about twice as fast as other existing purifiers, due to the proteins¡¯ efficiency,¡± nearly doubling the water recovery rate. The company is now working on membranes that use reverse osmosis as well as those working on forward osmosis to desalinate seawater at higher efficiency and lower cost than existing technology.

The focus is mainly on using forward osmosis for treating wastewater in businesses generating large amounts of highly polluted wastewater. These include oil and gas, food and beverage, dairy farming, and textile industries, among others.

¡°It¡¯s not millions, it¡¯s billions of liters of water that are wasted on a daily basis,¡± Jensen says. He mentions that places with high stress on water supply require such water purification solutions.

Serving Earth

Ambassador of India in Denmark, Ajit Gupte,, on his visit to Aquaporin A/S facility. (Image: Aquaporin A/S)

With this motivation, the company started moving towards industrial production of its formula In 2014. Now it sells household under-sink modules of its Tap Water Reverse Osmosis Membrane, to distributors in countries like China and India. India's Ambassador, Ajit Gupte, recently visited Aquaporin to discuss ways to establish Danish wastewater treatment solutions in the country.

In an interaction, Gupte cited the collaboration of various such companies with Indian engineers, researchers and IT professionals to improve their products and services. ¡°India's goal is to increase its renewable energy capacity to more than 300 gigawatts by 2030,¡± he said. ¡°This is 40 times the current Danish capacity, so will be the scope for Denmark to bring net impact at the global level.¡± A collaboration would also be in line with India and Denmark¡¯s Green Strategic Partnership, he mentioned.

Aquaporin was recently featured in a Netflix documentary titled Brave Blue World that shows innovative technology solutions for water management. ¡°...we are really pioneering on a totally different level and can change the water purification landscape completely,¡± Jensen says.