1. Effect of Cosmetic Preservatives
on Urine Stability
Team Members: Marco Cienega, Libby Joachim, Sandhya Ramesh,
Ben Smith, Caitlin Riegler, Laura Bradt, and Alan Lee
Grad Student Mentor: Dr. Aditya Raut Desai
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Bryan Boulanger
NASA JSC Mentor: Niklas Adam
Space Engineering Research Center
Texas Engineering Experiment Station, Texas A&M University
2. Team Structure
Name Major Year Position
Libby Joachim University Studies Honors 4 Team Lead
Marco Cienega Mechanical Engineering 4 Safety Lead
Ben Smith Civil Engineering 3 Assistant Lab Lead
Sandhya Ramesh Biomedical Engineering 2 Logistics Lead
Caitlin Riegler Civil Engineering 2 Data Lead
Alan Lee Chemical Engineering 1 Lab Lead
Laura Bradt Chemical Engineering 1 Assistant Team Lead
5. Current Urine Pretreatment Method
“String of Pearls”
Urine and fecal
collection unit
•Oxone and sulfuric
acid are toxic
•Bad for astronauts
and water
reclamation system
6. Project Goals
• Improve safety of pretreatment process
• Improve reclamation system
performance
7. Possible Solutions Investigated
• Eliminate need for chemical pretreatment
– Change collection protocols
– UV treatments
• Use non-toxic pretreatment agents
– Cosmetic preservatives
8. Semester Focus
Develop QAPP based on NASA
mentor’s recommendations and
screen cosmetic preservatives for
their ability to stabilize urine.
18. Conclusions
• The most promising cosmetic preservatives:
– Formaldehyde
– Diazolidinyl Urea
– Sodium Hydroxymethyl Glycinate
– Bronopol
19. Future Work
• Further investigation of compatible
cosmetic preservatives:
– Lowest effective concentration.
• Computer modeling to determine chemical
recovery for reuse.
• Combining two or more chemicals to get
desired results.
20. References
• Eaton, A. D. et al. (2005). Standard Methods for the
Examination of Water and Wastewater, American
Public Health Association, Washington D.C.
• NASA (2005). “Standard Operating Procedure for
the Formulation of Batch U.S. Pretreated Urine
(2005 Revision Basic).” National Aeronautics and
Space Administration, Lyndon B. Johnson Space
Center, Houston, TX, EC3-WR-066.
