Portable Sewage Treatment System

Portable Sewage Treatment System
Jul-29-13
A team of Duke University Students have created portable system able to treat the raw sewage of up to 1200 people, helping to protect the clean water in remote areas with no sewage systems available.

Developed as part of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Reinvent the Toilet competition, the system is small enough to fit inside a shipping container. The system works by passing the waste through such intense heat and pressure that it reaches the Supercritical Water Oxidization phase, in which the water flows like a gas but still dissolves things like a liquid. In this state, the supercritical water will dissolve the suspended sewage and, when oxygen is added, burn off the sludge to produce a sterile mixture of water, carbon dioxide and salts. The heat produced by the process could be used as a power source or cycled back into the system.

The Duke University team has received a $1.18 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to continue developing the system.

Portable Sewage Treatment System


More Info about this Invention:

[TREEHUGGER.COM]
[DUKE PRATT SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING]
Share on      

Add your Comment:

[LOGIN FIRST] if you're already a member.

fields are required.



Note: Your name will appear at the bottom of your comment.