American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 1 Pyrolysis Yields from Microwave-Assisted Heating of Solid Wastes Michael A. Serio 1 , Joseph E. Cosgrove 2 , and Marek A. Wójtowicz 3 Advanced Fuel Research, Inc., 87 Church Street, East Hartford, CT 06108-3728 USA Kanapathipillai Wignarajah 4 and John Fisher 5 NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000 USA This paper continues previous work on pyrolysis processing of solid wastes for spacecraft and planetary surface applications. A domestic microwave oven was modified for use in this work for scoping studies in which the effects of sample composition, use of central microwave absorbers, and secondary pyrolysis of liquids were studied. Experiments were done with wheat straw and various formulations of a feces simulant. The microwave absorbers examined included activated carbon and char produced from previous experiments. The addition of a separate microwave-heated secondary pyrolysis zone was also examined as a means of reducing the liquid product yields. In general, the feces simulants had similar pyrolysis yields when compared to wheat straw for the char and total gas yields, but individual gas yields were different. For example, the feces simulants produced significantly more ethylene, larger amounts of methane, and smaller amounts of carbon oxides (CO + CO 2 ). This can be largely explained by the differences in elemental compositions. A comparison was also made of the microwave-assisted pyrolysis of feces simulants of variable moisture contents (0-60 wt. %). The higher moisture contents (40-60 wt. %) result in a delay for the onset of pyrolysis and a higher energy demand per gram of sample, as might be expected. However, at lower moisture contents, such as the 20 wt. % water for the baseline sample, it was found that the overall energy demand appeared to be lower than for the dried sample, perhaps due to the more efficient absorption of microwave energy. Nomenclature CELSS = Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS) DAF = Dry, Ash-Free ESM = Equivalent System Mass FC = Fixed Carbon FTIR = Fourier Transform Infrared HHV = Higher Heating Value ISRU = In-Situ Resource Utilization MAP = Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis (MAP) MFM = Mass Flow Meter VM = Volatile Matter 1 President, Advanced Fuel Research, Inc. (AFR), 87 Church Street, East Hartford, CT 06108. 2 Laboratory Manager, AFR, 87 Church Street, East Hartford, CT 06108. 3 Vice President, Clean Energy & Carbon Materials, AFR, 87 Church Street, East Hartford, CT 06108. 4 Senior Scientist, SCB Branch, MS 239-8, NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035. 5 Lead Engineer, Exploration Life Support, NASA-Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035. 42nd International Conference on Environmental Systems 15 - 19 July 2012, San Diego, California AIAA 2012-3566 Copyright © 2012 by Advanced Fuel Research, Inc. Published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., with permission. Downloaded by Michael Serio on September 17, 2013 | http://arc.aiaa.org | DOI: 10.2514/6.2012-3566