Brine Recovery and Disposal
Vacuum Distillation Brine Concentrator
The vacuum distillation brine concentrator is a 12-kilogram distillation unit that recovers water from reverse osmosis reject brine before solid residuals enter waste processing. Operating cyclically within the water reclamation chain, the 316L stainless steel vessel utilizes heat from thermal control loop exhaust or a 300-watt pyrolytic boron nitride heater to boil brine at reduced temperatures. Direct access to the lunar surface vacuum eliminates mechanical vacuum pumps, enabling the assembly to achieve over 95 percent water recovery, export dry salt residuals to solid waste management, and maintain a 50,000-hour mean time between failures across a 15-year operational lifespan.
Vacuum-distillation brine concentrator that recovers additional water from RO reject brine before residual solids are sent to L1-WMS waste processing.
Purpose
Vacuum-distillation brine concentrator that recovers additional water from RO reject brine before residual solids are sent to L1-WMS waste processing.
Context
Child of L2-WTR-RECL in L1-WTR water processing chain
Principles
- ▸Vacuum distillation lowers boiling point (vacuum naturally available on Moon)
- ▸Heat input from L1-TCS waste heat or dedicated heater
- ▸Recovery >95% of water from brine, leaving dry salts
- ▸Cyclic operation; salt residuals to L1-WMS
- ▸Multi-effect for energy efficiency
Typical implementations
- ▸ISS Brine Processor Assembly (BPA, launched 2021)
- ▸Vacuum distillation industrial water reuse
- ▸Urine processor heritage VCD distillation
Lunar considerations
- ▸Vacuum naturally available on lunar surface — no vacuum pump needed
- ▸Solid salt residual to L1-WMS for end-of-life
- ▸Closes the water-loss loop near zero
Specifications
Functional
| primary function | Vacuum-distillation brine concentrator that recovers additional water from RO reject brine before residual solids are sent to L1-WMS waste processing. |
| recovery efficiency percent | 95 |
Physical
| mass kg | 12 |
| materials | 316L SS still body, PBN heater, MLI |
| vacuum compatibility | True |
Operational
| power consumption w | 300 |
| thermal range c | -40, 70 |
| lifetime years | 15 |
| mtbf hours | 50000 |
Interfaces
Provides
- Recovered water back to processing
- Dried salt residuals to waste
Requires
- Brine reject input
- Heat input (or waste heat)
Cite this entry
Lunar Ark Codex. "Brine Recovery and Disposal" (L3-WTR-RECL-BRINE). Retrieved 10 September 2026, from https://lunarark.com/entry/L3-WTR-RECL-BRINE
Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0. You may reuse and adapt this entry with attribution, under the same licence.