Sanitation

Leonardo De Silva Muñoz of AI3D in Mexico proposes to design a mobile waste treatment system that extracts fecal sludge and uses plasma gasification to turn waste into a gas that can be used to synthesize diesel and produce electricity. The treatment system will be fitted into the bed of a pickup truck, and the gas mixture produced will power the truck, the waste treatment process, and the fecal sludge extraction system.

Mark Holtzapple of Texas A&M University in the U.S. seeks to demonstrate that carboxylic acid fermentation can be adapted as a sanitation treatment to not only kill pathogens in the waste but also convert it to liquid fuels, compost, and potable water that can be used for economic gain.

Daniel Yeh of the University of South Florida in the U.S. will develop a decentralized sanitation system which uses an anaerobic digester and membrane biotechnology to treat waste water and produce methane for energy, clean water, and fertilizer for agriculture.

Andrew Parfitt of the Institute for Residential Innovation (IResI) in the U.S. will develop a compact, stand-alone device that uses a non-microbial system of progressive reactor modules to mineralize biomass such as sewage and food waste and simultaneously generate electrical power. This system could be used in any location to provide sanitation and purified water for a potable water supply.