Adaptation of pyrolysis technologies to the waste treatment market

Purpose

To advance the application of pyrolysis technology to treat human waste, as a solution that can increase access to safe sanitation through offering a modular system appropriate for urban environments in developing countries.

Activities

Unilever are creating Oya, a community scale sanitation treatment system to serve over 2,500 people.

Oya will take in human waste alongside other wastes that cause harm to the community, such as clinical, household and industrial wastes. These waste materials will be converted to useful products such as water, energy, ash and soil improver.

Oya will modify a commercially available pyrolysis unit to treat human waste streams. Pyrolysis is the decomposition of material using heat in the absence of oxygen. This creates an inert ash and a syngas, which is combusted to produce heat.

Countries of activity

Location of main activity

Objectives

A key aim of the trials is to prove that by mixing different kinds of waste with human waste, the calorific value of the overall mixture can be made high enough so that pyrolysis generates enough energy for the whole system. The goal is to find the highest ratio of human waste to supplementary waste for each different combination.

Further information

This was an RTTC grant.

Filter tags

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Energy: electricity, hydrogen, fuel cells Faecal sludge treatment processes Fertiliser Fundamental research and engineering Global North America Private sector, including social enterprises Product design and engineering Technology comparisons Treatment of faecal sludge

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