Urine Separation Opportunities for developing countries 1 UNESCOIHE

Urine Separation - Opportunities for developing countries 1

UNESCO-IHE § § § Institute for Water Education Owned by all UNESCO member states Every year 200 MSc degrees Currently 100 Ph. D students Tailor made training, online courses, curriculum development § Research 2

Urine separation § Part of Wastewater Design 3

Distribution volume and concentrations Volume (L/cap. year) WATER NUTRIENTS COD

Motivations for urine separation § § § Increase capacity of existing WWTPs Reduction water demand Prevention discharge large part of micropollutants Enable recycling before treatment Prevention pathogen mobilisation in onsite systems 5

Nutrients in urine Problem Nitrogen Phosphorus Opportunity eutrophication complete fertiliser Potassium Sulphur Calcium Magnesium Micronutrients benefit over artificial fertiliser Oil of the future 6

Technologies available Depends on goal! § § Nutrient removal Nutrient recovery Hygienisation Stabilisation; volume reduction 7

Urine change during storage Before storage Na opslag urea mg/l 7600 0 ammonium mg/l 480 8000 phosphate mg/l 740 540 magnesium mg/l 100 0 calcium mg/l 180 0 bicarbonate mg/l 0 3200 alkalinity mg/l 22 490 - 6. 2 9. 1 p. H

Urine change during storage Before storage After storage urea mg/l 7600 0 ammonium mg/l 480 8000 phosphate mg/l 740 540 magnesium mg/l 100 0 calcium mg/l 180 0 bicarbonate mg/l 0 3200 alkalinity mg/l 22 490 - 6. 2 9. 1 p. H

Hygienisation § § Storage! Prevent High p. H dilution High ammonia concentration Temperature best kept > 20°C 10

Nutrient removal Standard removal techniques can be applied § Nitrification / denitrification § Phosphate removal 11

Nutrient recovery: struvite NH 4+ + PO 43 - + Mg 2+ → Mg. NH 4 PO 4

Struvite precipitation applied full scale § Japan, Canada, USA (Ostara) § Netherlands: industrial WWT (potato) § Nepal: with urine from UDD toilets Crystal. Green. TM Several possibilities for SMEs STUN Project, Nepal – www. sandec. ch

Most obvious benefit: stop mobility pathogens Drawings by Albert Oleja, Uganda

Direct benefits, even without treatment § Prevention leakage nutrients + pathogens to groundwater -> helps drinking water treatment! § Makes urine available for clean and easy transport § Enabling safe handling (dried faecal matter 80% volume reduction) § Reduction pit emptying frequency 15

Conclusion § Urine separation: benefits for centralised and decentralised systems § Treatment urine: with standard techniques § After hygienisation: direct use as fertiliser § Direct benefits, even without treatment 16

Thank you for your attention 17

We know struvite precipitates spontaneously – can we also use it?

Chemical contaminants in urine § Heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni, Pb, Cd) § Hormones (endocrine disrupters) and pharmaceuticals: § Average of 64% of a substance ingested is excreted in the urine (Escher, 2007, p. 24) Better to recycle urine to arable land than to flush into recipient waters because: • Hormones and pharmaceuticals are degraded in natural environments with a diverse microbial activity • Urine is mixed into the active topsoil and retained for months (see Course 3 “Reuse of ecosan products in agriculture”) 19

What you excrete vs what you need Values are country-specific or diet-specific (treat as guideline only!) cap = capita = person 20

Visual evidence faeces & urine Maize (corn) urine none compost improved soil untreated soil after one week without water Source: GTZ presentations 21