Purdue University researchers are designing a system to recover water from human waste. Funded by NASA, the aim of the project is to devise a way astronauts on a Mars mission to produce their own water. The prototype bioreactor is based on certain plants that thrive when fed sewage collected in a $49,000 toilet.
"We shovel the processed waste onto the plants, almost like a mini-marsh," he said. "Then we use the plants to filter water out. We'll recover the water in the atmosphere above the plant by running it through a 'cold finger,' much like pipes sweating in restrooms. Using something cold condenses the water so that it can be captured."
