It turns out one man ’s poop might be another human being ’s gem , as a squad of scientist from Stanford may have found a way to take highly toxic by - merchandise of sewerage treatment and turn them into precious resourcefulness for husbandry and even electronics .
The team believes it could give up for far more efficient water reuse – something desperately require with so many countries lack admittance to neat water system – while turning a toxic waste product into one with important uses in multiple industries .
“ We are always looking for way to exit the closed circuit on chemical substance manufacturing processes , ” enounce fourth-year author Will Tarpeh , an assistant prof of chemical applied science at Stanford University , in astatement .
“ Sulfur is a key elemental cycle with room for advance in expeditiously converting sulphur pollutants into mathematical product like fertiliser and battery components . ”
Their results were published in the journalACS ES&T Engineering .
As scientists scramble to find price - effective treatment pick for the vast amount of sewage people produce , one method has been highlighted as a substantial rival : anaerobic filtration .
This process involves wastewater flowing through a filter full of active biomass , which traps and degrades solid and undesirable particles in the urine . It is effective , requires no electricity , and efficaciously remove solid from wastewater and even urine that has already gone through treatment .
Like all undecomposed things , however , anaerobiotic filtration has a problematic downside – it produces large amounts of sulfide . Sulfide is toxic , and big amount of it are highly hard to address with . Current direction techniques of the by - product give rise further toxic chemical substance , which corrode pipes and make further disinfection of the piss unmanageable .
In the pursuit of a better alternative , researchers wondered how to reverse the sulfides into something useable . One such use is sulfur - containing fertilizer , widely used by farmers as sulfur is a major nutrient require by plants . However , turn these by - products into fertilizer is a process that has n’t been fully developed yet .
Using electrochemical S oxidization , the researcher began turning the wastewater sulphide into useful product and analyzed the process with microscopy to determine where the response may be fix , plus any blockages that may stop sulfur recovery .
They successfully fine - tuned the outgrowth , claim it could be powered by renewable vigor and used at scale for the treatment of integral city . If it were to be combined with other recovery techniques that capture nitrogen , it could even directly create ammonium sulfate fertiliser .
The team now go for the operation can be further optimized and even implemented as a way to cut down the toxic output of wastewater , reduce pollution , and finally use the by - products in a positive agency .
“ Hopefully , this study will aid speed acceptance of technology that mitigates contamination , recovers valuable resources and create drinkable water all at the same sentence , ” said lead author Xiaohan Shao , a Ph.D. pupil in civil and environmental engineering at Stanford , in a assertion .
