Prizes and publicity!

We are pleased to announce the Nano Membrane Toilet has been selected as winner of the award for Excellence in the Field of Environmental Technology Research, by a panel chaired by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco.   The award was presented to PhD student Jake Larsson, at CleanEquity Monaco 2015, the forum for emerging cleantech and resource efficiency companies, hosted by London based specialist investment bank Innovator Capital. 

Jake (centre) receives the award form the Prince (right)

 A photo of all the award winners was displayed in Times Square in New York

The award has lead to some increased media coverage of the Nano Membrane Toilet.   An interview that Jake gave explaining the processes within the toilet and its possible applications has been carried by newspapers all over the world, from Australia to Ireland and Malta, as well as on the BBC website (see full list here).   Alison gave a live interview on BBC Three Counties Radio (from 1.48.44) and it was mentioned on the ABC702 Breakfast Show in Australia.

However, another highlight has to be being satirized in the Sydney Morning Herald with this cartoon showing how the Nano Membrane Toilet will be able to charge mobile phones:

Perspectives from potential users

Earlier this year four members of the Nano Membrane Toilet team traveled to Ghana to hear from our potential users and get their input into the design of the toilet.

We were really pleased to work with Clean Team who made sure we got all the surveys done (103!) and pre-tested them for us.   We were keen to talk to their customers as they have already made the decision to invest in an aspirational sanitation product, so we thought they would have some useful ideas for us.   Clean Team work across six districts of the city of Kumasi which allowed us to observe the many differences in style of houses, income levels, religion and water supplies.  

Jake interviews one of the Clean Team customers

People seemed very open to most of the concepts around the toilet: the water would be useful for cleaning, as even where people had taps in the house metering was becoming commonplace so there’s a money saving from the reuse.   Very few people liked the idea of drinking it, although one woman did say that since we had come from a University in England we must be doing a good job and therefore if I said the water was safe to drink she would be happy with it!

The potential for charging mobile phones from a toilet lit up almost everyone’s eyes, partially just the concept but also because, despite everyone we spoke to having electricity in the house, the dreaded ‘doomsa-doomsa’ - power cuts - were so common that getting caught short of phone battery during the blackouts was a big headache for many people! 

Ross takes a respondent through the a hidden needs assessment

Many people were excited about the idea and would be willing to accept a new technology, and work to keep it clean, safe, and well maintained. Many asked how quickly they could see it or buy it but they'll have to wait until next year when we start our field trials!

Ross contemplates the consequences of poor sanitation

We'll publish our full report shortly, and will also present the details of the perspectives on water reuse at the forthcoming WEDC Conference in Loughborough (UK) in July 2015.

New team members

We're delighted to have two new post-docs join the team from across the world!

Chih-ying (Karen) Wang has a PhD  entitled "Diffusion in hydrogel-supported lipid bilayer membranes" from McGill University in Canada and joins us following a post-doc at University Paris Sud.   She will be working on membrane sizing.

Tosin Onabanjo did her PhD here in Cranfield on gas turbine fuels, and she has experience in site remediation in Nigeria.   She will be testing the gasifier.

Component development and integration update

Development and integration of the Nano Membrane Toilet components is ongoing.   In the new toilet configuration faeces will settle to the bottom of the holding talk and urine will be removed from the top using a weir.

    

This test rig allows us to monitor water flux and test if any other compounds might be passing through the membrane.   This will allow us to extract clean, pathogen free water from the urine.

We are testing a variety off the shelf membranes.   We'll start testing bespoke membranes shortly.

We're also studying the fouling of the membranes under the microscope.   We anticipate membrane fouling will be low as the membranes are hydrophobic, so they will only need to be removed for regeneration every 3 months.

We've also taken delivery of a small gasifier from our collaborators in RTI and Colorado State University.   We'll start trials with synthetic faeces, but soon will use real human waste.   The gasifier will combust the dewatered human waste, transforming it into harmless ash.

This steel framed version of our iconic household toilet will help us fit together the new components.   We've also added wheels for ease of movement during development but also to gain an understanding of how the final model could be transported easily by the end users.

Marking World Toilet Day in London and Barcelona

We were delighted to receive two invitations to talk about the toilet at World Toilet Day events.

Firstly, WSUP hosted a showcase of sanitation research as part of their My Toilet  exhibition.   Jake Larsson gave a short talk about the Nano Membrane Toilet, alongside other Cranfield researchers:

• Elise Cartmell presented the Transforming Waste consortium's work on anaerobic digestion  and nutrient recovery from pit latrine sludge in Zambia.
• Ben Martin introduced the trials we are doing on different technologies to treate the Clean Team waste in Ghana.
• Ruben Sakrabani talked about our research on the efficacy of Loowatt's human waste derived fertilizer in Madagascar.
• Peter Cruddas explained what waste streams would be appropriate for co-pyrolysis of pit latrine sludge.

Cranfield's technical research was balance by presentations from WSUP on their research into topics such as health impacts and mobilising municipality finance for sanitation.   Overall it was a fantastic event that really demonstrated the breadth and importance of sanitation research, and we were honoured that the Nano Membrane Toilet was a part of it.

 Jake Larsson takes the stage at WSUP's My Toilet exhibition

 Secondly, Ross Tierney was invited out to join a panel of experts at the World Toilet Day and Improving Sanitation event hosted at the Roca Gallery Barcelona. The other speakers alongside Ross included Xavier Torras, Corporate Brand and Communication Director at Roca; Jordi Corral, Innovation Lab Project Manager from Roca; Mark Frantz, Fundraising Manager from Unicef; Martin Azua a designer and architect interested with particular interest in toilets and bathrooms.  The topic of conversation on the night revolved around providing access to sanitary solutions for the most vulnerable people with particular focus on equality and dignity for women and children, a theme we are certainly exploring with the Nano Membrane Toilet.

 

 Ross Tierney joins the panel at the Roca Gallery

Highly Commended at the Green Gown Awards

We were delighted to be Highly Commended in the Research and Development category at the 2014 EAUC Green Gown Awards.   Alison and Ross attended the awards ceremony at Manchester University and were treated to a delicious organic dinner before being presented the award by TV personality Simon Reeve and a representative from category sponsors, ARMA.

 Alison and Ross with the Simon Reeve and a representative of ARMA.

The judges said, "This is a strong project that has the potential to provide sanitation to people who do not currently have a toilet - 2 billion people around the world."   Our Vice Chancellor, Professor Sir Peter Gregson added, "The Nano Membrane Toilet project exemplifies the innovative, transformational and multidisciplinary research for which Cranfield is renowned. Winning this Award enhances awareness of Cranfield’s international research capabilities in water and sanitation, and provides much-deserved recognition for the hard work and dedication of all the project team."

The winners' brochure containing details of all the prizewinners can be downloaded here.

Kickstarting collaboration

The key to success in the next phase of the project is collaboration with other grantees who have already solved some of the tricky problems and who have invaluable expertise.   Last week we kick-started these collaborations with a series of visits and discussions.

Firstly Athanasios traveled to visit RTI International in San Francisco.   He's arranged for one of their gasifiers to be shipped to us to test and incorporate into our toilet.   Watch this space for its arrival!

Secondly,  Jeremiah Deal and Heather Deal from Three Bird Swan came to help is with some of our components like the pelletiser which will produce dry pellets form the dewatered sludge to go into the gasifier.   They also gave us some ideas on our whole system integration.

Leon, Ewan, Jeremiah, Ross and Jake discuss the system

Thirdly, Chris Buckley and Tina Velkushanova from the University of Kwa Zulu Natal came to share their experience of using an Archimedes screws to transport faecal sludge, as well as make some suggestions of how to make sure the flush provides a total odour barrier.

 

Peter, Chris and Tina examine the works-like prototype which will be used for the initial screw testing.

Chris, Ross and Tina consider how the bowl design will affect smearing.

Finally, Colleen Archer from UKZN came to give a talk about how the Ascaris egg can be used as a marker organism to detect if faeces is safe for reuse.   She also shared some fascinating stories about sanitation in her home town of Durban.