This library entry contains background documents for a grant that Daniel Yeh is leading and which is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Further information and a discussion is available on the SuSanA discussion forum, see link below.

Short description of the project:

The NEWgenerator is a compact and robust resource recovery machine that is paired with pit latrines, septic tanks, fecal sludge pits and self-standing toilets to treat, recycle and harvest embedded nutrients, energy and water in human wastes. It is intended for “wet pits” from communities that utilize water for washing or flushing, which renders the fecal sludge too wet for combustion processes such as pyrolysis for biochar. The NEWgenerator is a hybrid anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) machine which is packaged in a small-footprint modular housing for off-grid deployment.

Unlike its more common aerobic (activated sludge) MBR counterpart, the AnMBR does not require aeration (less energy to operate), produces 90% less microbial biomass (less handling) and recovers (rather than remove) nutrients such as NPK. Key processes of the NEWgenerator include: high-rate anaerobic digestion for rapid waste solids disintegration and high-level pathogen destruction (e.g., against Giardia and Ascaris), membrane ultrafiltration (sub-micron) of reactor solids and colloids to liberate pathogen-safe clean water and nutrients, permeate (clean water) collection and storage, biogas collection and electricity generation, and associated ruggedized sensors, data loggers and micro-controllers.

Goal(s):
The overall goal of the project is to develop an affordable, highly efficient, robust, reliable, off-grid, closed-loop sanitation system for harvesting energy, water and nutrients from waste urban biomass, both post-consumer (feces and urine) and pre-consumer (food waste).

Research or implementation partners:
Working with Eram Scientific Solutions (Kerala, India), we are targeting opportunities for field testing of a combined eToilet + NEWgenerator as an integrated system for human waste harvesting and conversion to nutrients, energy and water.

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Documents available for download below:

1 - Presentation on NEWGenerator (FSM-2 Conference in Durban, South Africa, Oct. 2012)

2 - GCE Phase I Scientific Report (April 2013) ?

3 - Short presentation at SEI webinar (29 April 2014)

Bibliographic information

Yeh, D. (2013). NEWgenerator(TM) for recovery of nutrients, energy and water from human wastes Various documents on results from research grant University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

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