23 replies to this topic

[Shortpoet-GTD]

(No date listed on this article, so I don't know if it's old news or a new discovery)

"Human waste will never be looked at the same way again. Researchers from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at the University of Bristol, England, recently reported in The Journal of Physical Chemistry that they've developed a fuel cell that uses urine to generate electricity.

The urine-tricity project consists of microbial fuel cells (MFC) that use bacteria to make urea,
a chemical in urine, generate electricity.
Wastewater treatment plants regularly use bacteria to break down waste, but the difference is
that those processes are energy intensive, whereas Bristol’s approach actually generates energy, explains Dr. Ioannis Ieropoulos, a lead researcher at Bristol.

It’s urine-tricity’s many benefits that excited the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to fund
this project through their Grand Challenges Explorations program, an initiative aimed at facilitating unorthodox ideas capable of solving persistent health and development challenges.
As a local source of power, urine-tricity can have a substantial impact on the developing world."
http://www.environme...ch/node/pee-ple


What do you think? Feasible?
(Link didn't show, so I posted the search link)

[msterees]

I wanted to see what you were referring to, but that link is broken. Don't know if this is feasible or not but it could be a good way to cut down on sewage if they could figure out a way to store all the urine it would take to make this electricity with.

[mariaandrea]

Hard to say whether it's feasible or not at this point. I'm sure the researchers don't even know yet. What I agree wholeheartedly with is this:

Quote

...Grand Challenges Explorations program, an initiative aimed at facilitating unorthodox ideas capable of solving persistent health and development challenges.

The more solutions we have to our problems the better because it isn't going to be just one thing that gets us out of our mess. And it seems obvious that unorthodox solutions are the best things to look for since orthodox solutions haven't been working.

[MakingCents]

This is definitely an interesting use of human waste....but disgusting! lol, I'm all for finding greener ways to do things but sometimes things go a little far :)

[Shortpoet-GTD]

msterees, on 07 January 2012 - 12:35 PM, said:

I wanted to see what you were referring to, but that link is broken. Don't know if this is feasible or not but it could be a good way to cut down on sewage if they could figure out a way to store all the urine it would take to make this electricity with.

For some reason, link didn't come up, so I posted their search link. Just click on the title.

[Runi1024]

Even if they could find a way to harvest enough urine for energy it would smell bad, and what would that mean? we'd have to have separate toilets depending on what you have to do? That's a little absurd.  But non the less it is an interesting idea, science always does find interesting things to do...

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Runi1024, on 25 January 2012 - 11:22 PM, said:

Even if they could find a way to harvest enough urine for energy it would smell bad, and what would that mean? we'd have to have separate toilets depending on what you have to do? That's a little absurd.  But non the less it is an interesting idea, science always does find interesting things to do...

It wouldn't smell bad because it would be flushed via a urinal, and according to the article,
we produce 6.4 trillion liters a year, so we have plenty.

[SpiroFlo]

Considering all the heat on biosolids, I think this one will still have trouble with the yuck factor (albeit not as bad).

[iebo]

I can see human waste as an energy source, but I would have thought it would come from poo, since it releases methane. If they can make electricity from urea than power to them. (no pun intended). I wouldn't have a problem with it. Better than blowing up mountains for coal.

[zararina]

There are small projects here using urine just like an alarm system in a certain prison here. The urine of prisoners are being use  for that project. It was really possible to generate elctricity but it was not yet done for bigger projects. So maybe a larger research projects could prove it later on if its possible.

[artistry]

I just find this fascinating. The fact that they can use urine to produce electricity in the end, no matter how small a quanity, is amazing. Countries with many people and problems with supplying electricity, such as North Korea may just find this part of a solution, if it is feasible. The process might sound a bit unhygienic, but if it works, as they noted, power to the pee..ple. Great report. Cheers.

[Runi1024]

Still find it a little gross, I'm sure it'd be fine as long as I don't know what it is ;)

[SpiroFlo]

iebo, on 28 January 2012 - 07:03 AM, said:

I can see human waste as an energy source, but I would have thought it would come from poo

That would be biosolids (used as a fertilizer).

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Runi1024, on 30 January 2012 - 08:42 AM, said:

Still find it a little gross, I'm sure it'd be fine as long as I don't know what it is ;)

Kind of like fishing? We don't want to see the hook "baited" with a worm.

[Sandra Piddock]

Kind of adds a whole new meaning to the kid's nursery rhyme This Little Piggy Went to Market -
'And this little piggy went wee, wee, wee all the way home.'
And when he got home, all those wee, wee, wees powered the TV, the computer, the kettle ...

[j_pin]

Though urine is disgusting the more things we find like this the more "green" humanity can be as a whole.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

j_pin, on 23 February 2012 - 05:43 PM, said:

Though urine is disgusting the more things we find like this the more "green" humanity can be as a whole.

Perhaps off topic here, but we can survive (in a desert situation for instance) by drinking our own urine.
Our own feces? Not so much.

[Hysssss-teria]

Well, it’s good for taking the fire out of a jellyfish sting, too …

I am ecstatic that “products” heretofore believed to be worthless, or at the very least gross, are being put to use for the good of our planet.

I actually wrote an article sometime ago about how to make liquid urea plant fertilizer out of your own urine. “Use your own urine to make free, constantly renewable urea fertilizer. Try to relax, because if you’re healthy your urine is virtually sterile and free of viruses and bacteria. The bonus is that this practice saves several flushes and lots of gallons of wastewater daily.”

Here are two of several of the excellent references that I used to write my article:

Human Pee With Ash Is a Natural Fertilizer, Study Says
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/09/090918-urine-ash-fertilizer.html

Human Urine As a Safe, Inexpensive Fertilizer for Food Crops
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071008093608.htm

[rbaker_59]

Sandra Piddock, on 22 February 2012 - 02:11 PM, said:

Kind of adds a whole new meaning to the kid's nursery rhyme This Little Piggy Went to Market -
'And this little piggy went wee, wee, wee all the way home.'
And when he got home, all those wee, wee, wees powered the TV, the computer, the kettle ...

This does sound absurd and really like a fairy tale.  If science is so good to find a chemical in urine to generate electricity, it looks like they could find a way to separate the chemical from the urine, like taking salt out of water.  If this really is a feasible idea, they should look for ways to make in hygenic.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

I found a related article about researchers finding ways to turn human waste, not only into energy, but into
safe drinking water.

"We all know that the efforts to convert human waste into a power source have been out for a while and with
decent success. But to turn it into both fuel and clean drinking water would be solving both problems.

Manchester University’s Sarah Haigh is attempting to do just that along with a group of researchers from Imperial
College London and Durham University by creating a system that will turn toilet waste into energy and clean water.
The team is using a nanotechnology in which nano-scale materials made up of various metals will produce
Hydrogen from the waste and then turn it to Hydrozene.
Hydrozene is incredibly efficient and the by-product of this conversion will see the production of water.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has already contributed $100,000 towards the research
and the team will get another million if they can demonstrate the chemical reactions that they intend
to use in the process by next year."
http://www.ecofriend...king-water.html