UK researchers are developing a
self-powered toilet which turns human waste into clean water and even
energy to charge mobile phones.
THE "nano membrane toilet", being developed with funding from the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to help bring sanitation into
the homes of 2.5 billion people still without it in developing
countries, without needing water supplies or sewage pipes.
The team
at Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, say it could also be used in
developed countries, for uses ranging from the military to luxury
yachts, the construction industry or even as an odour-free alternative
to the toilets widely used at music festivals. PhD student Jake
Larsson, one of the team working on the project, said: "The nano
membrane toilet is a project that looks to serve the needs of people in
developing countries to stop a major spread of disease, which is
inadequate sanitation.
"It is a household scale toilet that produces clean water and
manageable, pathogen-free, disposable waste, it's self-standing, it's
small enough to fit in someone's home and there's even a little bit of
energy left over to charge a mobile phone. "It is very diverse.
Not only it is for developing countries, but it's also useful for
developed countries, maybe for the military, they're always in desolate
places, or for the construction industry or even for yachts." The
toilet, activated once the lid is closed, rotates the bowl to carry the
waste into a holding tank, maintaining an "odour barrier" to prevent
smells, and using a sweep mechanism instead of a flush. In the
tank a "nano membrane" only allows through water molecules, separating
it from solid waste and pathogens which are too large to pass through
it. The water which is collected is suitable for irrigating
fields, washing or cleaning, and could even be made clean enough to
drink, while the solid waste is passed into a gasifier which burns it,
producing ash which can be used for agriculture. Heat from
burning the waste produces enough electricity to power the unit, and
could even produce a little extra for mobile phone charging. The Cranfield University team aims to start field testing the toilet in 2016.
-News Limited
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