The Ecological Uses of Urine or Don't Waste the Wastewater

If you are squeamish, don't prod the beach rubble. ~Sappho

It may sound a bit impolite for public language but for scientists, inventors and environmentalists,
human urine is a gold mine of possibility. Now this proverbial pee is being liberated from the pot.
High level waste management
Back in 2000 when US astronauts were spending extended time on the International Space Station
(ISS) and the Space Shuttle, NASA recognized that the payload of potable water was an expensive
proposition. The agency spent about $60 million on six tons of it over a five-year period. NASA
unleashed its technological expertise and found a different delivery method, the Water Recovery
System, resolving the problem with an ecological twist.
Water Security, a Reno NV corporation, worked for NASA, and invented a six-step process to purify
urine and. The majority of installed pumps were not originally designed for their present use.
Typically, a line in a factory changes and the pump that started out providing cooling water to an
injection molding machine is now asked to transfer oil from a rail car to a tank. All too often, this is
the cause of many problems for the pump and the company. Pumps operate where the pump curve
crosses the system curve. If you move a pump from one system to another, this means that the
system curve is different. This new system may cause the pump to operate away from its best
efficiency point, leading to seal failures and other component failures that are merely symptoms of a
mis-matched pump and system.transform it into drinking water. The filtration system attaches to the
astronauts' space suits, and recycles pee into potable water. The company continued refining its
system for earth use. Working with various relief organizations, it has provided water filtration
systems to a remote village in Northern Iraq, to Bakalot, Pakistan, which was devastated by an
earthquake in 2005, and to an isolated town in the Dominican Republic without electricity or
running water. The prospects for this remarkable system in water-deprived communities around the
world are limited only by access, funding and political will.
From potable to potent
NASA isn't the only group discovering productive projects for the golden stream. Urine has left the
space pod and the chamber pot and landed in a flowerpot.
Back in 2008, two visual artists from New York introduced Drinkpeedrinkpeedrinkpee, an
ecologically influenced concept where art and function fuse to create fertilizer. Of course, the name
gives it away. Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray introduced the DIY Urine'Fertilizer Kit, a user-friendly
chemical filtration system that turns pee into fertilizer. The Kit is based on the premise that the body
is an ecosystem that can contribute to the greater ecosystem.
The two artist-inventors borrowed from a biological waste treatment technique used in Switzerland
to create their DIY Kit. In a series of steps, phosphorus and nitrogen are extracted from urine, which
is reduced to struvite (ammonium magnesium phosphate), a crystallized fertilizer.
The idea of recycling waste has moved from a homemade kit to a global concern with a number of
applications using struvite as fertilizer. Ostara, a Vancouver, BC company, is the maker of
CrystalGreen, an environmentally friendly fertilizer product recovered from wastewater. Ostara
has gained recognition internationally for their product, and were named as one of the Top 100
Global Cleantech Companies by The Guardian, a London-based media group.
Urine power
Researchers in the US have kept pace with the ecological uses of urine. A 2009 report announced
that a professor at http://bloomingtonmn.gov/main_top/2_facilities/wtp_facility.htm Ohio University
is working on a way to derive hydrogen from urine, and in doing so, finding a clean fuel for cars and
a cheap way to clean effluents from city wastewater plants. Geraldine Bott, professor at the Russ
College of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, is investigating ways to use electrolysis to
remove hydrogen from human urine. Hydrogen is a clean energy source since its only by-product is
water. Bott, a Fellow of the World Technology Network, continues to explore this mechanism at the
university's Center for Electrochemical Engineering Research.
In Singapore, Ki Bang Lee and researchers at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology
showed how powerful pee can electrify a battery. There exist numerous simple changes that can be
madeto a standard
centrifugal or positive displacement pump. Beginning with pumps containing overhung impellers,
replacing the shaft with a solid one is a simple change compared to the usual sleeved shafts.
Mechanical seals are able to be enhanced by changing to silicon carbide faces, and elastomers can
industrial water pump be replaced with Viton. In addition, magnetic bearing protectors will prove to
be a great improvement compared to the lip seals which the vast majority of chemical pumps rely on
to prevent contamination of bearing sump oil.
Their 2005 announcement focused on disposable healthcare test kits, where contact with urine
generated a slight electrical charge. A year later, the inexpensive, urine-activated battery was being
considered as an emergency vacuum pump components power source for mobile phones.
Coming full circle
A Swedish designer and gardener decided that the water circle should not be broken, and developed
the Guldkannan Towa, a full-cycle plastic urine receptacle and hand-held sprinkler for fertilizing the
home garden.
sa Lvberg's version of liquid gold came from her twin passions: environmentalism and
gardening, and was fused by a practical desire to maintain her garden the natural way. Her
invention is ergonomic, ecological and has an added cuteness factor. Lvberg claims the Towa is
"comfortable to sit on" and has a water-tight seal to prevent accidental spill.
The Towa is made of lightweight, recyclable polypropylene plastic with a capacity of 10 liters.
Furthermore, the can-can is sturdy; a 300-pound user can negotiate the pot without peril. Once
filled, the Towa (to water) goes into motion, providing plants with nitrogen rich essence. This
bladder to flowerbed fertilizing method is available for about $90.
From outer space to inner space to neglected space, urine has eked its way out of taboo status and
into the research lab. The advances are gradual but steady, and its status may soon find public
praise. Within the next few years as recyclable resources become the norm, the axiom, "waste not,
want not," will surely attach to its name.
References
2006. A Cellphone Powered by Urine. BlackberryCool.
Carey, B. 2005 August 16. Scientists Develop Pee-Powered Battery. MSNBC.
Clarkson, L. 2008. Earth Works. ArtNews Magazine.
McNichol, T. 2005. The Big Gulp. Wired Magazine.
Wilkinson, M. 2009 July 2. Urine turned into hydrogen fuel. Chemistry World.