SSS stands for shit supply system. It is the first step in an innovative system where human excrements is transformed into biogas and fertilizer. This SSS can easily be made from materials available in the household. An open invitation is extended to the residents of droevendaal to participate.
The S(hit) is collected in a container, lined with newspaper, placed inside the toiletbowl. Some saw dust is added to soak up moisture, and reduce smell.
The S is quickly dropped into a trash can outside the front door. Because of the sawdust and newspaper, the contents are dry, thus there is very little odour. In addition, the trash can has a tight lid so, only a slight odour occurs when opening the lid.
From here, there are two options. Composting or Anaerobic Digestion. In my system we use AD. The contents of the trash can are delivered once every few days, or as needed to the reactor, where they are mixed with digestate or water, and chopped into slurry (roughly 5% solids) by a drill with a blade on the end.
The slurry is then dropped taken through a valve into the insulated reactor (100L) where biogas is produced. The reactor is maintained at 35 C and occasionally stirred by hand. Electricity consumption of the drill and heater system is much lower than biogas energy produced, but varies througout the year depending on ambient temperature.
The liquid effluent is emptied into a bucket or jerry can and used as fertilizer. It can be pasteurized at 70 C for 1 hour to fulfill EU ABPR. This liquid has minimal odour, and very little organic matter. It is basically water with nutrients. The biogas from the system is collected in a floating inverted drum, which is connected to the reactor and also the kitchen stove.
In the kitchen, one element is connected to the biogas pipe. The pressure from the weight of the floating drum is sufficient for a strong flame (there is no pressure regulator on the gas pipe). Roughly 15 minutes of cooking can be achieved, per person per day with excreta and newspaper. Adding degradable kitchen waste can double the gas production.
UPDATE: February 2010: Struvite from seawater and urine process demonstrated in Savu, Indonesia. A lot of interest from local students and farmers, who said they would save their urine, try the process, dry the struvite and use it instead of imported phosphate fertilizer.
*****
The Gorilla Blackwater Plant
(Wageningen, The Netherlands)
Prepared by Kealan Gell November 1, 2009
Summary The project converts the blackwater, or human excreta, from one student household into biogas and fertilizers, which are safe for food production. Compared to conventional sewage treatment and food production, this system reduces resource depletion, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Quote Let us abandon all consumption and pollution. Let us just eat and excrete.
Actors Residents of Droevendaalsesteeg 87, 93, and 99, Wageningen, the Netherlands Designed and operated by Kealan Gell Some equipment donated by Dr. Gatze Lettinga Support and inspiration from countless people and organizations, especially the Community Composting Network, UK
Description Urine is collected in a unisex odor-proof urine collection vessel, as shown in Figure 1. Urea is hydrolyzed in the collection vessel. Seawater, a source of magnesium ions, is added at a 1:4 volumetric ratio of seawater to urine (Figure 2). Mixing and settling, each for 15 minutes followed by decanting, produces 0.10 mm diameter struvite crystals, which are air-dried, shown in Figures 3 and 4. Struvite (12% P by mass) has a similar effectiveness, plant availability and P content to triple super phosphate (19% P by mass). Feces are collected in a dry toilet, covered with sawdust or paper to eliminate odor as shown in Figure 5. Feces are then mixed with paper and ground food waste, pasteurized at 70 C for 1 hour, and digested to produce biogas and safe liquid fertilizer, which includes stable organic matter. Digester is show in Figure 6. Currently electricity is used for heating the digester and pasteurizer, however in the future, biogas will be used. Biogas is currently used for cooking, Figure 7. The liquid fertilizer, Figure 8, is applied in the garden. Fertilizer products contain very low levels of pathogens, metals, hormones and pharmaceuticals. Tests have been done to ensure compliance with Dutch soil regulations, EU animal byproducts regulations and Dutch fertilizer regulations. An evaluation of this system should consider the alternative impacts of conventional sewage treatment and fertilizer production, including drinking water treatment and delivery, sewage transportation network, energy used for carbon and nutrient removal and loss, and phosphate fertilizer mining, depletion of P, processing and transportation, as well as overall self sufficiency, resilience and pollution.
Figure 1. Urine collection vessel
Figure 2. Before (left) and after (right) sea water addition
Figure 3. Drying struvite crystals
Figure 4. Microscopic photos of struvite crystals
Figure 5. Dry toilet with saw-dust
Figure 6. Anaerobic digester with insulation and heater
Please note. For information on the biogas, human excreta, struvite/ seawater process, please see previous entries on this blog (below)
http://transitioneastoxford.blogspot.com/2009/12/gorilla-blackwater-plant.html
Dear All
This is a bit of a long one…
Alright here’s a story about the christmas trip Katherine and I just got back from…
On December 7, 2009, Katherine and I left Wageningen on an overnight train and arrived in Copenhagen the next day.We arrived in Copenhagen which immediately looked quite different from what Id previously seen of western Europe.The buildings seemed a bit more industrial and no logos or signs were visible outside of downtown commercial areas.It was not attractive, especially the BellaCenter where the UN climate meeting was.It was like a business wasteland with big million dollar office buildings and empty lots, also it was cold and windy, no leaves on the trees.On the other hand, the downtown of Copenhagen, the canals, the city hall and central area, and 40 year old permanent squat called Christiania in the very center were great.It made sense to have the UN meeting out of the city for security I think.Inside the UN conference during the first week was amazing.It seemed like there was a representative of very country and every NGO in the world.People from 193 countries I think.And it was chaos.There were NGO stands, by the way NGO just means not government in this case, it includes Universities, foundations, businesses, etc.I went to quite a few sessions and side events, heard about market mechanisms which are supposed to reduce greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, such as international payments for protecting forests (REDD), carbon trading of course, etc.I will copy an update I sent after the first week… Katherine and I were involved with Fossil of the Day Ceremony, some photos attached. It was very inspiring to be inside during the first week, and although overwhelming, I learned things, etc.The only down side was the actual negotiations of “parties”, official country delegations.I sat in on some sessions where they were supposed to discuss stuff.They didn’t say anything or do anything.It was insane.The sat there thanking eachother and making arbitrary comments about nothing.But no content at all!!But people all just said “they are stating their position and next week the real negotiations will start.”As it happens I will never know.
Saturday was a rally downtown, starting from Denmark parliament and walking out the the BellaCenter.Organizers said there were 100,000 people there.There were all kinds of wild floats, groups of actions, it was probably the biggest demonstration Ive been in.During the same 2 weeks, there was an alternative conference happening downtown in Copenhagen called the KlimaForum.This conference was actually much better.It was the environmentalists and social rights activists, people like George Monbiot, Vandana Shiva, Naomi Klein, Elizabeth May, Mathis Wackernagel, Francois Schneider, etc. (these are my heros, perhaps you wound recognize other names).A strong voice for ecological debt, climate justice, etc, from the poor south.That the poor south has been raped of resources, kept poor, polluted, etc, and in fact the north owes ecological debt to the south.Makes perfect sense to me, but the rich country governments will find it hard to agree that this is the case…
Monday of the second week, things were normal.But by the afternoon, there were rumours that NGO’s (broad definition) were getting kicked out.Monday night we stayed late and rushed through all of the stands, grabbing pamphlets and business cards from eachother, in case we couldn’t get back in.As it turns out, that was a good move.I was never able to enter the conference center after Monday.On Wednesday Katherine organized an event for her job, Delta Alliance, a new international platform for exchange of information on how populations in river deltas can adapt to climate change.We had special passes from the dutch government, even a member of the IPCC with us.Luckily Katherine’s boss (head of environmental sciences department of WageningenUniversity) was allowed entrance.The IPCC guy was nearly rejected and several other key speakers for the event, who had flown in from Indonesia, Vietnam, etc, were denied access.According to “official story” some NGO’s were kicked out because of unauthorized actions inside.It is true that during the first week there were people singing, chanting, waving signs, in costume, etc, but nobody had a problem with that during the first week.After the conference had started, I was looking for some specific delegates, so I got a searchable, electronic list of participants to find who to look for.At that time, there were 8,000 government, 3000 media, and 22,000 NGO’s registered.The conference had capacity for 15,000.That sounds reasonable… but as it turned out, because of “lack of space” NGO participants were limited to 90 people.Governments brought many more delegates than they had planned because so many world leaders were coming.For example presidents of China, EU, US, etc, people who think they are very important.Needless to say, the photo of me in the secretariate seat of one of the main sessions was taken during the first week!!
For us, and 99% of NGOs and even many government people, the conference ended at the KlimaForum.Next door to it there was a big hall for NGO’s with big TV screens (20x40 ft) broadcasting what was happening in the conference.People would sit and watch, making demonstration signs, feeling depressed, etc.There were also several more actions, with a few thousand people who would clash with police.There were thousands of arrests.The Thursday and Friday of the second week, all different world leaders could be seen on the screens, bullshitting about whatever they thought at that moment.What was amazing was that most world leaders sounded like extreme environmental activists.From South America, Africa, Asia, the presidents of countries would say “our people are suffering. It doesn’t rain anymore.We need to commit to 80% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions within 20 years.We need to limit change to 1degree C.We need to go back to 350 parts per million CO2.”It was incredible.Almost every developing and poor nation sounded like more of an environmentalist than George Monbiot.Even China and India.Brazil especially.They have real, serious targets and are willing to make real sacrifices and commitments (at least judging by the speeches and what I heard).China already has fuel efficiency standards that the most efficient car in the US (Toyota Prius) will barely be allowed in China.They are willing to cut intensity of emissions (that is per GDP) 50% by 2040? I don’t remember exactly.In contrast, the US is willing to maybe cut emissions by 3%, and Canada is planning to increase by 37% in the same period.The most impressive speakers were the “extreme” socialists Evo Morales and Hugo Chavez.These guys spoke right after Obama, and managed to raise a huge ovation in the NGO hall.They said to Obama – if you want to act, sign Kyoto.They were very critical of the “backroom deal” that Obama has come up with.It is great that he came and reached an agreement with several big economies, but the US has not made any real sacrifices or commitments of its own, except a few billion dollars, which as a Chinese delegate mentioned he will have to borrow from China anyways.Further more, the agreement doesn’t really say anything, except that these economies (Brazil, Russia, China, India, Southafrica) must be transparent about their emissions and adaptation measures.On the other hand, Bolivia and Venezuela say they will try to reduce emissions by 100% within 30 years or so.They also agreed with the majority of presenters in the KlimaForum that there is system failure.Markets will not fix it.Capitalism is fatally flawed and markets alone cannot solve our current crisis.And that the rich countries governments are controlled more by corporations than by the population.So that goes into a whole other realm, but there is some healthy debate there for politics.I am disappointed that the rest of the world (excluding US, Canada, probably Russia, and Australia, maybe China) didn’t come up with some agreement.They were able to at Kyoto, why not now?The EU, most south American nations, every small island state at risk of going under water, all appear to be fully “on board” and ready to make targets post-Kyoto, and even in my opinion, some reasonable targets.The EU was up for something like 30 or 40% reduction from 1990 levels, which is far more serious than any other major industrialized country.There are already international court cases in the Haag and elsewhere considering the idea of ecological debt.I think socialist South American states, the EU and many other developing nations could make an agreement to act on climate change and leave other rich countries, primarily the US, Canada and Australia to sign up later, face trade sanctions, and court cases in the future.This sounds like a joke right now but I think that the US, Canada and Australia would have a very hard time without importing very cheap stuff from the rest of the world…I guess this will never happen because the WTO trumps the UN and every nation anyway… Much of Australia in fact is suffering from 10-15 years of non-stop drought and vulnerable to various aspects of limate change.The only reason their government is so nuts in these negotiations is that, like Canada, they are rich in fossil fuels (coal).
I should quickly mention that there were also plenty of climate change deniers at the meeting, mostly outside.But also inside, people like Lord Monkton, Bjorn Lomborg (not a denier but a fact twister), there are only really a few people who are the spokes people for this view but they get a huge amount of attention and of course support from the wealthy and powerful who like this view.Kathy has a nice book called climate changed deniers?Anyway according to the book and according to Kealan, if you search peer reviewed science journals, you will find thousands of articles on global warming, climate change, and zero articles claiming that climate changes is not happening, or even that it is not man made, etc etc
The YES men have done several stunts recently making fake press conferences and impersonating the US chamber of Commerce and the Canadian delegation to COP 15, saying that they reversed their position on global warming (for the better).They are facing huge lawsuits now, Avaaz.org is helping to raise funds to help them.
Long term plan
So as it is mentioned in my update from the first week, during these two weeks, I have decided to really dive into the field of small community self-sufficiency.At least water, food and energy.Importing stuff like computers, equipment, etc is still reasonable I think.This could, potentially decrease the reliance of populations on fossil fuels, and the huge coroporate- industrial system which is so destructive to people and biodiversity across the globe.And since Ive just been hired to work on a small island (Savu) in Indonesia, to make it more self sufficient, with renewable energy, farming techniques, water storage, etc, it is very convenient decision!Another source of inspiration is the T’Sou’ke first nations people (sooke) who have installed the largest solar energy system in western Canada.The technologies exist and the will exists (even Canadian cities seem quite progressive), so becoming familiar with suitable renewable energy and agricultural techniques, I expect that I will be able to find a few specific technologies that work on given circumstances.The first step of course is to become more self sufficient myself.The paper I wrote on “closed loop agricultural production” was finally published in a peer reviewed journal (Internation Journal of Ecological Economics and Statistics) looking at what, in theory it takes to support a human, with different habits…Keeping track of what I eat, and what energy I use will be quite interesting.Over the next months I expect to get a much better idea of what I am consuming.
The Gorilla blackwater plant (www.transitioneastoxford.blogspot.com) is related to my thesis, it is a system to turn human excreta into biogas and fertilizer), so, theoretically I can take these nutrients, spread them on roughly 300m2 of land, and grow roughly enough food to keep myself going for the year.Heat can be solar, electricity can be wind solar, etc.
Finally, I am sending a few recordings that Katherine and I made recently.Leonard Cohen’s “the future”, Katherine wrote a song called “dreams shake me” Music.
Finally, a story about our holiday in Norway!!!Please not that this was extremely non-environmentally or socially friendly.Norway is mostly running on renewable electricity however it is quite evil.It is the most wealthy country in the world and refuses to share, admit immigrants, takes resources from other EU countries (eg fisheries) that cannot because of regulations, etc.
Here you go.The climate meetings ended on Saturday December 19.
We took a ferry up to Oslo, which was nice, and caught a plane directly from oslo to Tromso.Tromso is 400km north of the arctic circle, in northern Norway.It is a city of about 70,000, on a small island in a maze of fjords and islands.Needless to say it was dark up there.The sun makes a glow for about 4 hours per day on the horizon.Some photos attached.We did a ritual on Dec 21 to celebrates solstice, and probably, the darkest day of our lives!!Haha.Could be worse I think.We climbed some small mountains around the town and also went out one night to see the northern lights.And we definitely saw them. Pretty much the entire sky was filled with bands of green.Not moving so fast, but shimmering and pretty cool.Since we went with a group, and lay out in -20 C for many hours, we were provided with full body suits to stay warm and reindeer skins to lay on.The other nice thing about Tromso is that average temperature for December is -5 C.Because of Gulfstream.So it was pretty comfortable.Anyway we spent a few days up there and then caught a plane, boat, and train finally back to Wageningen today.
Alright – merry Christmas, happy new year and talk to you soon!
My number in Wageningen (mobile) +31 (0) 6848 797 84
Address Droevendaalsesteeg 93
6708 PS Wageningen
The Netherlands
****************************
UPDATE FROM WEEK 1,
Dear All
COP 15 (current UN climate meeting in Copenhagen) has been
interesting. The first days were chaos for me. Trying to find what's
going on where and what Im doing, etc. Eventually the layout and
structure of the negotiations and side events, as well as permanent
expositions became clear. After the first week, I have a few things to
report for you (mostly about my personal activities and experiences)!
At 17.00 or 17.30 most days I play music to open the Fossil of the day
Ceremony http://www.fossiloftheday.com/ which happens at 18:00.
With renditions of my songs
http://www.myspace.com/montrealgrasscompany, as well as classics such
as Leonard Cohen's "The Future". Katherine is one of two hosts for
the fossil of the day awards, and there is lots of footage of the
awards on youtube, hopefully more of the openning music to come. On
friday we had a croud of at least 200 people and the mayor of toronto accepted the 1st place fossil award on behalf of canada. Canada has
recieved the most awards this year, with more than twice the number of
points as the next contender (Ukraine). When I asked the chief
negotiator for canada "do you think the fossil of the day awards have
a big impact?" he didn't really have a clear answer but said it is
widely reported in the media. I think the answer is yes. The
candidates are voted in by the entire NGO community present inside COP 15.
For the rest of the day I am focusing on self sufficiency activities
of small islands and remote communities. Aspects of technologies,
research, partners, financing, etc. Several small islands and
communities such as Savu in indonesia, Tuvalu in the pacific, and
T'souke First Nation in Canada serve as immediate inspiration and
potential collaborators. Im working for a dutch foundation to set up
activities on Savu to maintain it's self sufficiency and
sustainability in water, energy and food.
http://www.cabrejou.nl/nieuws/sustainable-savu.htmlTuvalu is famous
inside COP 15, having won the first ever Ray of the Day (opposite of
the fossil award), it is a small island state between Fiji and Hawaii,
may disappear from sealevel rise, it is extremely committed to good
climate change policy, and energy independence. T'Souke is a first
nations group from my home town of Sooke, Canada with a huge solar
energy installation on vancouver island. Since Ive been hired to work
on this, I am enjoying it more and more and think that it might be my
future to work on small island and community self sufficiency,
especially in terms of water and soil fertility for food
self-sufficiency but perhaps also some energy stuff. Many interesting
technologies are available for this. My thesis at wageningen is about
struvite, a concentrated phosphorous fertilizer which can be easily
produced by mixing seawater and urine. This is one example of a
technology that might be interesting for a small island seeking self
sufficiency. Also rainwater capture, groundwater recharge, and soil
water holding capacity are interesting for savu because it recieves a
huge amount of rain in the wet season but drought the rest of the
year.
Im also checking up on the COP 15 claims of carbon neutrality. A
month after the conference is finished, a report will be published,
estimating the total emissions of COP 15 conference. Unfortunately
they are missing major points of emissions, and planning to offset
with a brick factory in Bangladesh. However I have been discussion
with a representative of the consulting company who was hired to make
this estimate, so before I blast them I will discuss any objections
with her. My first GHG inventory was of McGill University Campus
(montreal, canada) in 2004
www.sustainable.mcgill.ca/docs/GHG_paper_final_version.doc and since I
have estimated GHG emissions of several activities and processes. I
have the immediate impression that 30,000 very rich people's
activities for 2 weeks in a cold, rich city will add up to more than
5,000 tonnes of CO2. But of course it depends on boundaries.
One last note. The protests and march yesterday was great. nearly
1000 arrested but I didn't see a single arrest. I think you had to be
quite rude to the policy or refuse to move off the street after the
march was over. Organizers estimate there were 100,000 people. I
wouldn't be surprised. There was no end to the sea of flags and
signs. Greenpeace and 350.org had enormous floats, puppets depicting
bankers overpowering world leaders, etc. Some young people are on
their 38th day of a Climate Justice Fast, having had only water for
this amount of time. Some have also begun taking B vitamins to avoild
permanent brain damage. http://www.climatejusticefast.com/ According
to the UNFCCC secretariat, this fast is symbolic of a huge public
frustration with the process, and discrepancy of targets and
committments needed between science and politics, particularly from
the developing world who are suffering from the effects of climate
change yet did not cause the problem. Climate justice has become a
very popular slogan representing not only the need to cut CO2 levels
by everyone but also the need for the developped countries to pay
their "ecological debt" to the developping world. The good news is
that there are many thousands of great people here in Copenhagen,
planning the revolution. We are all hoping Obama and other world
leaders will pull through with legally binding, committments and
capital devoted to this revolution. If they can spend hundreds of
billions on bankers' bonuses, surely they can spend a little on
survival...
Summary The project converts the blackwater, or human excreta, from one student household into biogas and fertilizers, which are safe for food production. Compared to conventional sewage treatment and food production, this system reduces resource depletion, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Quote Let us abandon all consumption and pollution. Let us just eat and excrete.
Actors Residents of Droevendaalsesteeg 87, 93, and 99, Wageningen, the Netherlands Designed and operated by Kealan Gell Some equipment donated by Dr. Gatze Lettinga Support and inspiration from countless people and organizations, especially the Community Composting Network, UK
Description Urine is collected in a unisex odor-proof urine collection vessel, as shown in Figure 1. Urea is hydrolyzed in the collection vessel. Seawater, a source of magnesium ions, is added at a 1:4 volumetric ratio of seawater to urine (Figure 2). Mixing and settling, each for 15 minutes followed by decanting, produces 0.10 mm diameter struvite crystals, which are air-dried, shown in Figures 3 and 4. Struvite (12% P by mass) has a similar effectiveness, plant availability and P content to triple super phosphate (19% P by mass). Feces are collected in a dry toilet, covered with sawdust or paper to eliminate odor as shown in Figure 5. Feces are then mixed with paper and ground food waste, pasteurized at 70 C for 1 hour, and digested to produce biogas and safe liquid fertilizer, which includes stable organic matter. Digester is show in Figure 6. Currently electricity is used for heating the digester and pasteurizer, however in the future, biogas will be used. Biogas is currently used for cooking, Figure 7. The liquid fertilizer, Figure 8, is applied in the garden. Fertilizer products contain very low levels of pathogens, metals, hormones and pharmaceuticals. Tests have been done to ensure compliance with Dutch soil regulations, EU animal byproducts regulations and Dutch fertilizer regulations. An evaluation of this system should consider the alternative impacts of conventional sewage treatment and fertilizer production, including drinking water treatment and delivery, sewage transportation network, energy used for carbon and nutrient removal and loss, and phosphate fertilizer mining, depletion of P, processing and transportation, as well as overall self sufficiency, resilience and pollution.
Figure 1. Urine collection vessel
Figure 2. Before (left) and after (right) sea water addition
Figure 3. Drying struvite crystals
Figure 4. Microscopic photos of struvite crystals
Figure 5. Dry toilet with saw-dust
Figure 6. Anaerobic digester with insulation and heater
The week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, Wetsus and Rabobank held their 2009 Water Business Challenge. Kealan Gell and Guy Blanch won a scholarship to develop a business plan for the Community Composting Network’s (CCN's) Anaerobic Digestion Steering Group. The competition was based on a 10 minute powerpoint presentation (slides presented here).
Click on the slides image for an expanded view.
The exercise was to adapt our environmental, charitable activities into something that can make money, and be interesting for investors. The focus is on blackwater, however it could also be expanded to food waste.
The customer is sold a service - complete reuse of blackwater from their building, including the production of biogas for use on-site. The customer does not have to change their habits, the same toilet can be used, with the addition of a small, discrete urinal for both men and women. All maintenance and operation is covered by their lease fee of €100 per month, per installation. Depending on customer preferences, struvite fertilizer may be used on site,or picked up during maintenance visits (once per month) and composts and irrigation water used on site or flushed into existing disposal methods. If the customer prefers, a rooftop garden or greenhouse cropping system may be installed and maintained for the use of composts and irrigation water (this is determined site by site). The customer pays €11,000 for installation of the basic system, but does not own the system, rather leases it (including a service) for €100 per month.
Our team is local - have over 200 Community Composting Organizations across the UK, and we have an expert in your region who can provide maintenance as it is required. It is unlikely that more than one scheduled visit per month will be required, however the customer is assured that if he or she has questions or problems, someone will be able to visit immediately. This technology has been proven and demonstrated, and all installations come with a health and safety guarantee. All relevant regulations will be met.
Our team and our competitors - CCN has done 2 years of market research on what exists in small scale AD in the industrialized world. There is a large market gap, despite widespread interest from CCN members. Competitors are generally too big, complex and expensive, or do not provide a network and service package, or are not technically sound. CCN has hired world leaders in decentralized blackwater AD technologies, Lettinga Associates Foundation to review existing systems and produce a detailed design, construction guide and operation manual. This information will be published publicly, however most people, building managers, organizations are not interested in creating their own blackwater reuse system – however they might like to have one, for the biogas energy, fertilizer, and ultimately the green image and publicity that goes along with completely reusing human waste. Thus we offer this package.
Decentralized, micro scale anaerobic digestion systems are being developed by CCN with technical help from LeAF to treat blackwater, food waste, etc: Project Details. We will have a public event with the Dutch Society for Peak Oil and Gas on October 4 in Droevendaal, Wageningen
A valuable fertilizer called struvite can be produced by simply mixing seawater and urine. I have made a pamphlet to describe the process for public knowledge. The process may be used to recycle phosphorous in new and existing urinals, with no major infrastructural changes. The process is extremely low-tech and simple and may be used around the world.
Click on the above image for an expanded view
Text: Valuable Fertilizer from Urine and Seawater Online September 13, 2009 K. Gell
Collection: Men and women are able to comfortably urinate into an odour-proof collection vessel, as shown in Figure 1.
Process: Urea is hydrolyzed in the collection vessel. Seawater is added at a volumetric ratio of 1 seawater to 4 urine. Aeration and settling, each for 15 minutes followed by decanting to a sewer or halophyte filter, produces 0.10 mm diameter crystals which are air dried, shown in Figures 3 and 4.
Product: Struvite is as effective as triple super phosphate as a phosphorous fertilizer1,2, contains no pathogens3, very low levels of metals3,6, hormones and pharmaceuticals4.
Background: Struvite has been widely produced with urine5 and separately with seawater6, but not both together. This simple process has potential for new and existing toilets in coastal areas around the world. It is the author’s intent that this process be publicly known and used.
References: (1) Ghosh, G.K., et al., Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems, 1996. 46(1): p. 71-79. (2) Johnston, A.E. and I.R. Richards. Soil Use and Management, 2003. 19(1): p. 45-49. (3) Unpublished results, K. Gell 2009 (4) Escher, B.I., et al. Environmental Science & Technology, 2006. 40(16): p. 5095-5101. (5) Ronteltap, M., et al. Water Research, 2007. 41(5): p. 977-984. (6) Matsumiya, Y., et al. Water and Environment Journal, 2000. 14(4): p. 291-296.
