11.5 Waste Management
Covers the stringent waste management and materials-recycling protocols aboard Deep Space 9, including mandatory recycling driven by material shortages, the collection and processing of waste water through separate loops with reclamation and safety equipment, the filtering and CHON reduction of organic residues, the flash-electrolysis and fuel-cell recovery of water and EPS current, the mechanical, thermal, and EM reduction and separation of solid wastes and metals for return to replicator stock, and the containment and restricted-access study of hazardous and irreducible materials.
Like most starships, Deep Space 9 benefits from stringent waste management and materials-recycling protocols. In some cases, recycling is mandatory, since many materials have been in short supply due to ongoing conflict. Starfleet and Bajoran techniques have been melded to achieve an efficient level of matter reduction per unit cost in energy. Any material deemed too costly in energy (and therefore deuterium fuel) allocation to process is either stored or discarded through various means. Certain reduced materials of even limited strategic value will be retained or moved by Starfleet ship.
Waste water from all sources, including residential, commercial, and experimental spaces, is collected and processed. Normally, water-usage areas of similar type remain routed through separate loops for ease of recycling. The original Terok Nor fluid system was evaluated for engineering integrity, difficulty of operation, and chemical and biological safety. All systems were deemed usable by Starfleet, though additional reclamation and safety equipment was installed on all major loops. All microscopic and macroscopic materials are filtered out and fractionated. Organic residues are biologically deactivated, reduced to CHON (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen) compounds, and reintroduced into the raw storage tanks for replicator and scientific use. The Cardassian and Bajoran recycling units typically produce a continuous flash-electrolysis product of hydrogen and oxygen, which immediately exits through a fuel-cell bed to produce pure water and usable EPS current.
Solid wastes for recycling are mechanically reduced to 0.01-millimeter fragments by combined sonic and EM field emitters. Materials are separated by specific gravity and further reduced to melts or powders by thermal means, usually EPS or phaser. Most materials that can be reduced to CHON compounds are returned to replicator stock or longer term storage. Metals, particularly strong forced-matrix alloys, can be reduced to elemental form by EM matrix uncoupling, akin to replicator or transporter material manipulation, at an energy cost proportional to the bonding energy of the atomic structure. Alloy samples of like type can be fused and reentered in the station's usable stores. All other simple matter conversions can be handled by the replicators.
Hazardous waste materials of strategic reuse value may not be immediately rendered harmless, and may be stored in protected cargo bays, (see 11.4). Those substances categorized as storables are contained, sealed, recorded, and separated into chemicals, biologicals, geologics, and metallics. Any material from any source not able to be broken down by normal methods, whether mechanical, thermal, EM, or subspace, is placed under restricted access for study by Starfleet and Federation science facilities.