Produce electricity and fertilizer from the toilet

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) have developed a new toilet system that can turn waste into electricity and fertilizers and save up to 90% of water used in the system. Current toilet in the island, according to the Science Daily.

Dubbed the unmodified "vacuum toilet," this toilet system has two liquid and solid waste sinks.

By using vacuum technology, similar to the technology used in the "toilet" on the plane, the flushing of liquids now takes only about 0.2 liters of water, while flushing solids just 1 liter of water.

Traditional toilets use about 4 to 6 liters of water per wash. If installed in public toilets, the new generation toilet will save about 160,000 liters of water per year.

Experts are looking to conduct tests by installing the toilet in two bathrooms at Nanyang Technological University. If everything goes well, the world can "get in" this toilet for three years.

Lead researcher Wang Jing-Yuan said that the ultimate goal was not just to save water, but to completely restore resources so as not to waste anything.

The toilet deflects the liquid waste into a treatment facility where it can recover ingredients used as fertilizer, such as nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.

At the same time, solid waste will be transferred to a biofilter where they will be destroyed to produce methane-containing biogas.

Methane is odorless and can replace natural gas used in cooking stoves. This gas can also be converted into electricity used for power plants or fuel cells.