C.R.O.P. – Combined Regenerative Organic food Production. A base for an easy to use system for wastewater reclamation

Abstract

The basic idea of the project C.R.O.P. is to design a flexible waste processing system for all kinds of liquid and solid organic wastes. The system is envisioned to be combined with soilless plant cultivation for life support purposes during long-term space missions. The core of the C.R.O.P.-System is a microbial trickling filter which is inoculated with a diverse community of soil microorganisms. These are capable to degrade organic matter of all kinds into inorganic compounds, which can be taken up by plants. With regard to wastewater reclamation on Earth the C.R.O.P.-Filter can provide an easy to use and easy to maintain treatment plant for the processing of nitrogenous wastewater into nitrate fertilizer solutions for agricultural use. In our testing facility at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne a set of C.R.O.P.-Filters in operation are monitored regarding their long-term performance in nitrate production. It could already be shown that nitrification occurs in the filters. Ammonium is turned into nitrate so quickly that odour nuisance and toxicity are reduced to a minimum. The application of the resulting solution as fertilizer is currently tested.