Recent developments in the components of the Nano Membrane Toilet

The team have been hard at work developing the components of the Nano Membrane Toilet and have produced three papers recently.

To separate clean water form urine, membrane distillation is used.   Good quality water was able to be produced, despite the high concertation of the urine.   Fouling was reversible using physical cleaning, without needing any additional pressure.   When faecal contamination was added to urine, it was still possible to reduce Chemical Oxygen Demand, but it would be better to have a pre-treatment stage to achieve the best water quality.

F. Kamranvand, C. Davey, H. Sakara,, O. Autin,E. Mercer, M. Collins, L. Williams, A. Kolios, A. Parker, S. Tyrrel, E.Cartmell, E.J. McAdam (2018) Impact of fouling, cleaning and faecalcontamination on the separation of water from urine using thermally drivenmembrane separation. Separation Science and Technology

The final stage of faeces processing in the Nano Membrane Toilet is a micro-combustor.   This paper describes the initial successful tests of this component on real human faeces.

Jurado, N., Somorin, T., Kolios, A.J.Email Author, Wagland, S.,Patchigolla, K., Fidalgo, B., Parker, A., McAdam, E., Williams, L., Tyrrel, S.,(2018) Design and commissioning of a multi-mode prototype for thermochemicalconversion of human faeces, Energy Conversion and Management 163, 507-524

 

To recover energy from this combustion we have modelled the performance of a Sterling Engine which they have shown could produce a daily power output of 27 Wh/h.

Sowale, A., Kolios, A.J.Email Author, Fidalgo, B., Somorin, T.,Parker, A., Williams, L., Collins, M., McAdam, E., Tyrrel, S. (2018)Thermodynamic analysis of a gamma type Stirling engine in an energy recoverysystem, Energy Conversion and Management, 165, 528-540