Researchers at the Energy Institute at Colorado State University have developed a fully automated combustion system for solid biomass fuels. This system is designed to destroy pathogens and bacteria, recover valuable by products, and sanitize biomass waste such as human feces. The system operates efficiently and effectively to sanitize “off-grid” and low-cost, potentially bringing hygienic sanitation to many parts of the world.
Worldwide, 2.5 billion people lack adequate sanitation facilities. Modern sanitation systems require large amounts of land, energy, and water infrastructure to operate, and are susceptible to natural disasters or changing seasons. These poor public health facilities contribute to unsafe water sources, disease and pathogen outbreaks, and preventable illnesses and deaths every year.
The developed combustion system utilizes gasification to neutralize solid biomass waste with low emissions. An updraft configuration allows for the recycling of exhaust gas to dry incoming biomass, and the startup, steady state, and shutdown sequences have been determined.
An example of the toilet and combustion system is shown here, exampling the small footprint and simple design.
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John Mizia
Jason Golly
Maxwell Flagge
Aly Hoeher
Aly.Hoeher@colostate.edu
970-491-7100