Our current global resource model is linear: it involves take-use-dispose. This can lead to waste and places little emphasis on making the most of our resources. With the consumption of global resources expected to rise because of a growing population, new ways of optimising our resources are needed to ensure we do not consume beyond what we have.
When the sewage arrives at a treatment facility, selected constituents in the wastewater are consumed by microorganisms. Eventually, these microorganisms grow to a point at which the tanks must be emptied. In South Africa, the majority of this “waste” ends up at land disposal sites. To understand the types of products that could be manufactured, we need to understand what is contained in our urine and faeces. Water makes up the largest fraction of both. Urine contains about 90% water. It also contains essential plant macronutrients that are used in fertilisers. If urine can be separated from faeces, we can harvest and recycle these nutrients.
At the University of Cape Town, Dr Dyllon Randall has been exploring the production of biobricks from urine. Randall’s research involved collecting urine from men’s urinals and feeding this to selected bacteria. The result was a gel-like substance, which can bind masonry sand together to form a biobrick. The research first aimed at illustrating this possibility; new research is aimed at optimising the processing of products and developing the business models to scale up production.
In South Africa, BMW has been using a similar process at its factory in Bronkhorstspruit to supplement its electricity demand using cow faeces and other organic waste. This indicates that South Africa has the capability to undertake such engineering projects and there is potential to convert our wastewater treatment works into fuel-generation centres.
Interesting innovations on resource recovery from human waste.
WaterResearchSA Peecycling.
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