Description: The Advanced Organic Waste Gasifier (AOWG) was designed to process astronaut waste for a crew of four during Mars transit under microgravity conditions. The nominal amount of waste generated per astronaut is 1.35kg waste per day. AOWG experimental runs employed steam and oxygen flow rates and their ratio to convert the nominal amount of trash in 24 hrs. To further characterize the throughput of the reformer, Pioneer proposes to increase the steam and oxygen rates to determine when performance of the reformer degrades. In addition, the effect on the tar destroyer performance and condensate water quality will be collected. Additional waste simulant feedstocks will also be used to observe varying system outputs and behaviors. The characterizations lead to a tighter design on the reformer and tar destroyer for future applications. Ash produced from the runs will be collected and provided to the NASA team. These results will also provide information to further validate the fidelity of the model used to simulate the gasification process. With this information, sketches for the reformer and tar destroyer will be provided sized to appropriate scale that could be used for a full-scale system. Using the optimum performance results, system level mass, power and volume estimates will be updated for Mars transit vehicle application. A system schematic and concept of operations will also be provided. Pioneer will participate in tag-ups with the KSC Trash to Gas team to provide updates and collect feedback to optimize and discuss recommended or possible experimental runs. Pioneer will also include one in-person visit to KSC for a technical meeting. Work performed for the SBIR portion of the funding includes the experiments that further characterize the throughput of the reformer and tar destroyer. Work performed for the NASA SE&I Logistics group includes the designs of the reformer and tar destroyer that will lead to improved mass, power and volume estimates for a flight system.

Benefits: AOWG is key for human space exploration, converting organic crew wastes into clean water, a small mass of sterile inorganic residue, and clean gases suitable for venting from the spacecraft. AOWG is targeted toward minimizing overall transit vehicle mass, which minimizes mass requirement for propellants and tankage. Waste mass reduction with water recovery is critical for life support and to reduce overall flight costs. AOWG can be modified for production of propellants and breathing air, which would make it valuable on the Artemis Lunar base.

AOWG has applicability for terrestrial energy recovery, fuel synthesis, chemicals synthesis from renewable resources, agricultural wastes, municipal wastes, and other organic-containing wastes including paper and plastics. These organic-containing resources are processed by AOWG to produce syngas, and then converted into methanol or other fuels and chemicals through catalytic synthesis processes.