26-march, 2016 A Revolutionary Waterless Toilet Backed By Bill Gates May Be The Future Of Sanitation! ----------------------------------------------

26-march, 2016
A Revolutionary Waterless Toilet Backed By Bill Gates May Be The Future Of Sanitation! 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It was long five years back Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation challenged the world to design a toilet which will be clean, green and sustainable. Finally, Cranfield University has come out with a viable solution called Nano Membrane Toilet. The project was funded by the Gates Foundation for $710,000.

The background of this important project is the cruel fact that more than 2.4 billion people all around the world still live in a scenario where little or no sanitary facility exists. Without proper sanitation and running water they face life-threatening sanitation-related diseases.

The Nano Membrane toilet aims to overcome this situation. It’s waterless and simple to use. In full blown condition, it may serve as the future of sanitation.

Alison Parker, a lecturer in International Water and Sanitation at Cranfield Water Science Institute, highlighted the bottom lines: “It will be very hard to carry out the scheduled maintenance” in remote areas because these toilets needs to be serviced every six months and certain parts are needed to be replaced  “Instead, the toilet will be used in dense urban areas where a number of factors make providing good sanitation very challenging, but where it would be possible to facilitate visits from a maintenance technician.”

Though the toilet is simple to use the underlying design is rather complex.

After a person has done with his business and closed the lid, the moving toilet bowl turns 270 degrees to dispose the waste inside a vat placed underneath. A scraper tool fitted inside wipes off the residual waste from the toilet bowl. At this stage the solid waste stays at the bottom and liquid goes up due to gravity. Inside the vat, there are installations of nanofiber bundles. They release the water vapor into a vertical tube which is placed in the rear of the toilet.

While the vapor goes up, specially designed beads condenses them into water. These water droplets falls down and stored in a tank at the front of the toilet. The remaining solid waste is lifted by a battery powered mechanism and it is transferred into a separate holding chamber. This chamber is coated with a layer of scent suppressing wax. The whole waste is allowed to be completely dry.

Local technician visit is required Every week to remove the solid waste and water and to replace  batteries if required. The water can be used for any domestic purpose whereas the  solid waste is fed into a thermo-processing plant which readily generates energy for the whole community.

As per the information available, one toilet caters to about 10 people with an operating cost of  maximum $0.05 per day, per user. Incidentally, that was the bottom line set by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s for the prize. Field testing of the toilet will start later this year.

The definite challenge at hand is that of scalability of the idea. Moving the toilets in place where it is needed itself poses a big challenge. Local communities have to take responsibility so that the toilets are maintained in their best health and efficiency. It is important that they are given training for usage and maintenance.

According to Parker, one major challenge is still not resolved here. Users will use paper and toss them into the dustbin. A proper method is to be devised to dispose and burn these papers. However, it is still not an environmentally friendly solution.

(Adp: from  technology vista).