Bill Gates challenges research team to reinvent the........... toilet

www.theengineer.co.uk ^ | 20 July 2011 | staff

[Red Badger]

Bill Gates has given Dutch researchers the task of creating a toilet that works without links to water, sewage or power networks.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded Delft University of Technology a grant to develop a way of using microwaves to process human waste and create electricity.

The researchers hope the new toilet could be produced at an affordable cost for people in developing countries with limited access to reliable infrastructure.

Waste will be dried and then gasified using plasma created by microwaves. The resulting syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, will be fed into a solid oxide fuel-cell stack to generate electricity.

Delft’s Georgios Stefanidis, assistant professor of process intensification, said the process would generate enough power to become self-sufficient.

‘Part of the electricity produced will be used to activate plasma gasification, while heat recovered from the syngas stream and from the fuel-cell exhaust gas will be used for waste drying.

‘Preliminary calculations show that microwave plasma gasification may be energy self-sufficient, provided that the efficient transformation and high throughput of human waste matter can be obtained. It is also affordable.’

The foundation announced the grant yesterday at the AfricaSan conference in Rwanda as part of more than $40m in investments in its new water, sanitation and hygiene strategy.

‘To address the needs of the 2.6 billion people who don’t have access to safe sanitation, we not only must reinvent the toilet, we also must find safe, affordable and sustainable ways to capture, treat and recycle human waste,’ said Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the foundation’s Global Development Program.

Delft’s Prof Andrzej Stankiewicz said: ‘The current project presents an excellent example of how modern chemical engineering science serves not only the chemical process industries but also helps in resolving some crucial societal issues in the world.’

[Nervous Tick]

>> Bill Gates already has a “toilet” Windows ME and Vista.

Damn! Beat me to it. Ya gotta type quick around here.

[Smokin' Joe]

My grandfathers never smelled....

A little lime goes a long way...

At this latitude, most of the older houses have lilacs in the back.

In the Spring, during the thaw, the lilac blossoms' intense perfume helped cover up the aroma of the thawing privvy.

[the invisib1e hand]

early-onset dementia?

[JohnBrowdie]

He already did. It was called windows vista

[dfwgator]

Bud, sit down. Let me tell you the story of the Ferguson. Now these babies were made in Maine, you know, at the little Ferguson factory. It's the Stradivarius of toilets. And my Dad could play it like a violin. Yup, I'll never forget the time my dad took me to Maine to visit the factory. I had to go to the bathroom. And I begged him to pull into a truck stop. He said no, wait until we get there! It'll be worth it! It was!

Bud: Excuse me, Dad, but a toilet is a toilet.

Al: (grimacing) Bud... the toilets today aren't worthy of the name! They come in designer colors... they're too low! When you flush them, they make this weak, almost apologetic sound. But not the Ferguson. It only comes in white. And when you flush it... BaaaWOOOSH! That's a man's flush, Bud. A Ferguson says, "I'm a toilet. Sit down and give me your best shot." Oh, if only a Ferguson could speak, the tales it would tell!

[Iron Munro]

The Eco-Friendly, "Green" Solution:

• Completely solid state
• No moving parts
• No chemicals required
• No outside power required
• 100% Organic
• Byproducts are bio-degradable
• Low initial investment
• Low operating costs

[org.whodat]

Ok Bill, I can rigs a potato gun under you flusher if you want a cheap thrill.

[Iron Munro]

The Executive Model

[hellbender]

The cooked waste is supposed to generate enough power in fuel cells to support the microwaves. Sounds cool, but very complex and buggy—kind of like Windoze®. Hard to image maintaining something like that in Third World conditions.

[digger48]

And by the time government gets done regulating it...

[Red Badger]

...resultant products and byproducts still have the lingering odor of poop ~ EVEN FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS!

This is not a problem that Bill Gates can overcome.

Just open a new WINDOW!...........;^)

[Wuli]

“Bill Gates has given Dutch researchers the task of creating a toilet that works without links to water, sewage or power networks.”

It’s already been “invented”, a long time ago. It’s called an “out house”, and in modern terms they already have portable ones.

Tell the Dutch researchers to just send Gates their own “out house” plans and collect the “research” money from idiot Gates.

[Iron Munro]

Move it and grow blue ribbon tomatoes where it last stood.

[Leroy S. Mort]

Apple had it first.

[bicyclerepair]

Macs are so much better!

[skimbell]

Yep, I was going to say that as long as he's at it, Gates ought to get somebody to genetically alter/engineer a goose that lays golden eggs.

I imagine that bird would be pretty popular almost anywhere.

[Revolting cat!]

The fool and his money.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Control > alt > defecate

[org.whodat]

Little boy, sear catalog, ladies underwear section, wonderful time, wonder if those models realized what joy their pictures brought. LOL

[org.whodat]

Little boy, sear catalog, ladies underwear section, wonderful time, wonder if those models realized what joy their pictures brought. LOL