Incinerating toilet

An incinerating toilet is a type of dry toilet that burns human feces instead of flushing them away with water, as does a flush toilet.^[1] The thermal energy used to incinerate the waste can be derived from electricity, fuel, oil, or liquified petroleum gas. They are relatively inefficient because of the fuel used.^[2]

An example of an early (1904) incinerating toilet from the Lexikon der gesamten Technik

History

Example of incineration toilet under development by RTI International. The blue section to the right contains some of the drying and combustion components.

The first commercially successful incinerating toilet was the Destroilet, patented in 1946. Destroilets were used on ships in the 1960s when laws were passed to prevent the dumping of raw sewage into American waterways.^[3]

In 2011, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" to promote safer, more effective ways to treat human excreta. Several research teams have received funding to work on developing toilets based on solid waste combustion.^[4] For example, a toilet under development by RTI International is based on electrochemical disinfection and solid waste combustion.^[5] This technology converts feces into burnable pieces and then uses thermoelectric devices to convert the thermal energy into electrical energy.^{[citation needed]}

Design

Incinerating toilets may be powered by electricity, gas, dried feces or other energy sources.^[6][7] Incinerating toilets gather excrement in an integral ashpan and then incinerate it, reducing it to pathogen-free ash.^[8] Some will also incinerate "grey water" created from showers and sinks.^{[citation needed]}

Applications

Incinerating toilets are used only for niche applications, which include:

• Apartments with limited or difficult access to waste plumbing.
• Houses without access to drains, and where building a septic tank would be difficult or uneconomic.
• On yachts and canal barges, as an alternative to a blackwater holding tank, which needs to be pumped out occasionally.
• On mobile homes, recreational vehicles and caravans/(trailers).

References

1. US EPA, OMS (November 8, 2016). "Water Efficiency Technology Fact Sheet - Incinerating Toilets". www.epa.gov.
2. Pfafflin, J.R.; Ziegler, E.N. (2006). Encyclopedia of Environmental Science and Engineering, Volumes One and Two. CRC Press. p. 1088. ISBN 978-1-4398-5186-9. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
3. "The Destroilet Incinerating Toilet, features, history, design, operation of an elecrtric incinerating toilet". inspectapedia.com.
4. Elisabeth von Muench, Dorothee Spuhler, Trevor Surridge, Nelson Ekane, Kim Andersson, Emine Goekce Fidan, Arno Rosemarin (2013) Sustainable Sanitation Alliance members take a closer look at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s sanitation grants, Sustainable Sanitation Practice Journal, Issue 17, p. 4-10
5. "Our Technology | A Better Toilet". Archived from the original on March 17, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014. RTI Reinvent the Toilet Project Team - Technology Overview
6. "Enviro Composting Toilet Systems NZ". Enviro Composting Toilet Systems NZ. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
7. "Cinderella Forbrenningstoalett - Forsiden". www.cinderellaeco.no. Retrieved 2016-11-28.
8. "Composting Toilet Systems". Retrieved 24 September 2016.

External links

• "Incinerating Toilets - Compendium of Information on Alternative Onsite Septic System Technology in Massachusetts". Barnstable County Department of Health and Environment. 2007. Retrieved 21 July 2021.
• Freidman, Daniel (2007-07-14). "Using Incinerating Toilets as Components of Alternative Septic Systems for Difficult Sites". Archived from the original on 2006-10-16. Retrieved 2007-12-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• "Water Efficiency Technology Fact Sheet: Incinerating Toilets" (PDF). United States Environmental Protection Agency. September 1999. Archived from the original on 2000-09-30. Retrieved 2007-12-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)