Product/Service Development

Kin-Ping Wong of Retina Pharma, Inc. in the U.S. proposes to test UV-resistant super-water-repellent silica as a coating for toilets, which could reduce the amount of water needed to clean the toilets after use and improve the surface sanitation of the toilets. The silica coating displays the same very high water repellency as the leaves of the lotus flower.

David Robbins of RTI International in the U.S. will test a septic tank biofilter made from cocopeat, which is a readily available byproduct of coconut processing, for its ability to decompose human waste and produce effluent that can be used for crop fertilization and irrigation. If successful, the cocopeat biofilter could be produced locally and aid in solid waste treatment and water conservation efforts.

Joe Schneider of LAAMScience in the U.S. will develop a reusable and self-decontaminating menstrual napkin that uses photodynamic dyes to inactivate microbial growth on the fabric. The napkin would prevent the need for expensive disposable pads and tampons while offering a hygienic alternative that self-disinfects in the absence of soap or clean water.

Guillermo Bazan of the University of California, Santa Barbara in the U.S. proposes to introduce artificial molecular wires (AMWs) into a waste treatment system as a way to not only break down organic contaminants in human waste, but also catalytically convert the energy present in those microbes into electrical energy for local needs.

Natalie Cookson and colleagues at Quantitative BioSciences in the U.S. are developing an algae-based waste treatment system targeted for third-world applications. Cyanobacteria will treat a community's waste and produce two forms of renewable energy: nutrient-rich fertilizer to enhance agriculture and biomethane to power the facility and neighboring community.

Kory Russel, Sebastien Tilmans and Katherine Steele of Stanford University in the U.S. are designing a consumer-driven line of latrines that double as containment and transport systems for fecal wastes. The latrines will be low-cost, mass-producible, and easy to ship, enabling various sanitation services and collection businesses to develop in areas just outside dense urban populations.

Karsten Gjefle of Sustainable Sanitation Design in Norway will design and test a low cost system to rapidly turn human excreta into pathogen-free compost for use as fertilizer for farmers. Gjefle and his team hope to create a viable financial market that will remove untreated sewage from urban areas and also provide farmers with recycled, safe and natural soil improvements.

Olufunke Cofie of the International Water Management Institute in Ghana will develop and test fortified fertilizer pellets from treated human excreta for market sale. Production at large scale could enhance agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa, while also contributing to reduction in environmental health risk from untreated human waste. In Phase I Cofie tested several materials that are inexpensive and locally available as binding agents for producing robust fecal sludge pellets suitable for packaging and transportation.

Yuanbing Mao of the University of Texas-Pan American in the U.S. proposes to develop spray paints consisting of nanomaterials that work together to trap contaminants and destroy them using converted UV light. These spray paints could be used as decontaminating coatings for latrines.

Temesgen Garoma of San Diego State University in the U.S. proposes to develop an enhanced anaerobic digestion system that uses algae as a supplement to reliably and inexpensively treat human waste and also generate biogas for energy needs and biosolids for use as fertilizer.