Effective recovery of potable water from various streams and sources of wastewater, seawater, or contaminated water is a significant task for securing existence of human beings in space, terrestrial, and marine environments. Efficient purification of the wastewater is also a very important task for protection of the global environment. The existing and known methods of recovery of clean water from the wastewater are technically complicated, have low energy efficiency, consume processing material, and are bulky, heavy, and not cost effective.

This invention employs the two-phase liquid processing technology based on distillation of water-based solutions and multiple energy recuperation/utilization at reduced pressure and temperature. The invention describes a highly efficient method for the production of high-quality water in any environment (space, terrestrial, marine). The invention also provides a technology, named Cascade Distillation, to implement the proposed process. This technology has been patented by Honeywell Corp.

This work was done by Alex M. Lubman, Allen K. Mac Knight, Voktdimir G. Rifert, and Ivan V. Zolotukhin of Honeywell Corp. for Johnson Space Center. For further information, contact the JSC Technology Transfer Office at (281) 483-3809. MSC-24860-1