Use of membrane equipment for hygiene water processing aboard the space station

The sanitary and hygienic facilities and hygiene water processing system are supposed to be integrated into the complex of space station life support systems. The Russian concept is to establish a closed hygiene water supply loop. For increasing the crew comfort while staying onboard the space station the following sanitary and hygienic facilities are supposed to be added: hand and face wash hardware (washstand); body wash equipment; sauna; washing machine. This hardware and equipment is supposed to be used with the hygiene water processing system. When taking water procedures, the crew will use the common liquid detergents that minimize air pollution. The paper experimentally confirms the efficiency of the reverse osmosis method as applied to the hygiene water purification. The prototype of the hygiene water processing system ensured a required quality of the product water, made it possible to assess the purification performance and life characteristics of the system being developed. Based on the mockup models and flight equipment characteristics the mass expenditures were estimated when putting various sanitary and hygienic facilities on board the ISS together with the hygiene water processing system.