Development and Field Testing of a Decentralized, Self-Contained Toilet that Converts Human Waste Into Burnable Fuel and Disinfected, Reusable Liquid

Rogers, Tate; Stoner, Brian R.; Elledge, Myles; Piascik, Jeff; Klem, Ethan J. D.; Stokes, David L.; Mizia, John; Hawkins, Brian T.; Sellgren, Katelyn L.; Morrison, Laura T. R.

doi:10.2175/193864716819706590

Cited by 2 publications

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“…We are developing a free‐standing toilet system that is designed to separate liquid and solid waste, drying the solids for use as a combustible fuel to drive thermoelectric devices and disinfecting the liquid with an electrochemical process enabling safe onsite reuse (Stokes et al, ; Rogers et al, ; Sellgren et al, ). The ultimate goal is an integrated system that requires no addition of external water or power; however, the energy required to achieve effective and reliable disinfection of blackwater using the electrochemical process currently exceeds what can be generated onsite.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remediation of suspended solids and turbidity by improved settling tank design in a small‐scale, free‐standing toilet system using recycled blackwater

Hawkins

Sellgren

Cellini

et al. 2018

Water & Environment J

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Our research is focused on the development of decentralized waste water treatment technologies enabling onsite water reuse. Accumulation of solids with recycling of treated blackwater increases the energy required for disinfection with an electrochemical process. We hypothesized that improving the preprocess settling of blackwater by increasing the tortuosity of the liquid flow path would reduce this energy demand by reducing particle‐associated chemical oxygen demand (COD). This approach successfully reduced the total suspended solids and turbidity in the process liquid accumulated per user‐day equivalent. A modest reduction in the apparent steady‐state accumulation of COD was also observed, likely because of the retention of COD associated with larger particles in the settling tanks. Interestingly, these improvements did not improve the energy efficiency of the electrochemical disinfection process, as predicted. These observations suggest that improving the energy efficiency of electrochemical disinfection will require remediation of dissolved COD.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remediation of suspended solids and turbidity by improved settling tank design in a small‐scale, free‐standing toilet system using recycled blackwater

Hawkins

Sellgren

Cellini

et al. 2018

Water & Environment J

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“…The processing of the solid materials uses a combination of mechanical and thermal energy. The Reinvented Toilet can be provided as a household unit for 10 users or as a communal-purposed containerized solution with multiple toilets [10]. As of February 2018, a test unit is installed at CEPT University (Ahmedabad, India) and additional prototypes are planned for sites in Coimbatore, India and Durban, South Africa.…”

Section: Duke Reinvented Toiletmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remote Sensing, Mobile Applications and Open Data Science Tools for Better Monitoring of Sanitation Systems

Schoebitz¹,

Woolley²,

Ferragut³

et al.

EPiC Series in Engineering

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Safely managed sanitation services, monitored by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, require data on treatment of excreta from sanitation systems. This data is not readily available for the majority of United Nations member states and has led to estimates being established mostly for those countries where conventional sewer-based sanitation systems are prevalent. Presented in this article is a decentralized portable treatment unit for the safe treatment of excreta and sludges from non-sewered sanitation systems. Data from daily operations is generated from a variety of sensors, each collecting approximately ten data points per minute. Innovative cloudbased methods and data science tools are implemented to collect, store and analyze data. A software platform was developed that offers real-time reporting and alerts to operators and supervisors, allows for remote operation and control, and provides a multi tier architecture that enables user interaction through a mobile or web interface. Key Performance Indicators and results from long-term analytics are presented to quantify the effectiveness of the treatment process and provide relevant information to improve daily operations.Engineering

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Development and Field Testing of a Decentralized, Self-Contained Toilet that Converts Human Waste Into Burnable Fuel and Disinfected, Reusable Liquid

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Remediation of suspended solids and turbidity by improved settling tank design in a small‐scale, free‐standing toilet system using recycled blackwater

Remediation of suspended solids and turbidity by improved settling tank design in a small‐scale, free‐standing toilet system using recycled blackwater

Remote Sensing, Mobile Applications and Open Data Science Tools for Better Monitoring of Sanitation Systems

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