Waterless, stinkfree toilets thanks to nanotechnology

A Jan. 7, 2016 article by Magda Mis for the Thomson Reuters Foundation focuses on an innovative approach to waste management (toilets) taken by researchers at Cranfield University (UK),

A toilet that does not need water, a sewage system or external power but instead uses nanotechnology to treat human waste, produce clean water and keep smells at bay is being developed by a British university.

The innovative toilet uses a rotating mechanism to move waste into a holding chamber containing nano elements. The mechanism also blocks odours and keeps waste out of sight.

“Once the waste is in the holding chamber we use membranes that take water out as vapour, which can then be condensed and available for people to use in their homes,” Alison Parker, lead researcher on the project, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“The pathogens remain in the waste at the bottom of the holding chamber, so the water is basically pure and clean.”

It’s known as the (Cranfield) Nano Membrane Toilet (website here),

I winced a bit watching that as would, I imagine, any number of people living in one of Britain’s former colonies (Canada, India, Ghana, Nigeria, Jamaica, New Zealand, and others in what’s now known as the Commonwealth countries).

Getting back to the article, Cranfield participated in a Gates Foundation competition and won a grant to develop this toilet,

Cranfield University is developing the toilet as part of the global “Reinvent the toilet Challenge” launched by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Parker said that despite “significant” interest from developed countries, the toilet is being designed with those in mind who have no access to adequate toilets.

Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio, the WHO [World Health Organization] says.

Cranfield University says its toilet is designed for a household of up to 10 people and will cost just $0.05 per day per user.

 

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