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Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
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Re: Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
#42Drying urine, transporting it, this is extremely energy intensive. There's a much simpler solution: composting toilets. Easy to setup, requires very little input (basically just some dry material like wood shavings (i.e. waste from wood processing that you can sometimes get for free) and you're done. The "humanure" mixed with the dry material goes in a compost bin, sits there for two years, then can be applied to the…
My wife and I rented a Yurt in Fort Collins, CO, near the foot hills of Wyoming. The owner was super eco-conscious/zero-waste. I've not camped for a while, and haven't used anything other than a toilet for years, but something about doing my business in the out house really made the experience 10x better. I think maybe because I feel guilt whenever I flush a toilet that says "3.5-5 gal/flush"... that's a lot of water. I'm not sure the owner used the "humanure", but regardless, it was one less flush.
Re: Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
#43Drying urine, transporting it, this is extremely energy intensive. There's a much simpler solution: composting toilets. Easy to setup, requires very little input (basically just some dry material like wood shavings (i.e. waste from wood processing that you can sometimes get for free) and you're done. The "humanure" mixed with the dry material goes in a compost bin, sits there for two years, then can be applied to the…
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Re: Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
#44Re: Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
#45> According to Simha’s estimates, humans produce enough urine to replace about one-quarter of current nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers worldwide They have got to be taking the piss. So worth the downvotes.
> They have got to be taking the piss. The origin of this phrase (I am certain you know and merely detailing for others) is literally in the once-financially-viable business of collecting urine (from public houses, outdoor toilets, and even private houses) because it was a valuable source of ammonia before the invention of the (from memory, Haber-Bosch?) process for its industrial production.
It was notable that it was more than just "viable", but seriously protected (by nobility) because that ammonia was needed (and a limiting factor in) the production of gunpowder - hence it was a matter of security.
Re: Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
#46It's all about the marketing. I can see it now. The title of that Nature's article should also be the name of the new Lady Gaga's world tour where everybody would be doing lots of nitrous oxide. Plus maybe drag racing as a sideshow so as to compensate the taste differences.
Re: Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
We could also stop producing so much dung...
You jest, but I have thought about this. If we all take fiber pills and probiotics will that reduce waste, and also toilet paper consumption? Should we be introducing these things into the water supply like fluoride? (the answer is no, but would be an interesting exercise to see what impact it could have)
Most people in the US -- 66% over eat. Eat less, poop less.
Re: Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
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and where does the energy and fertilizer come from to do that? right, fossil fuels. Last I checked, there's a currently an existential threat linked to use of those that are the main driver for why all these initiatives are going on.
I'm not happy about it either but its a choice between each individual's footprint going down or reducing the amount of individuals.
Re: Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
#49> That’s in part because urine is rich in nutrients that, instead of polluting water bodies, could go towards fertilizing crops or feed into industrial processes. Huh? We're already producing way too much fertilizer from farm animals, which leads to the situation that countries like the Netherlands [1] and Germany [2] experience a massive oversupply of dung that has to be shipped sometimes hundreds of kilometers beca…
It's probably worth pointing out that the component that's overabundant in the Netherlands (nitrogen) is only part of what can be recovered from urine. In particular there's a chronic lack of phosphorus.
Re: Separating urine from sewage could mitigate some environmental problems
#50> That’s in part because urine is rich in nutrients that, instead of polluting water bodies, could go towards fertilizing crops or feed into industrial processes. Huh? We're already producing way too much fertilizer from farm animals, which leads to the situation that countries like the Netherlands [1] and Germany [2] experience a massive oversupply of dung that has to be shipped sometimes hundreds of kilometers beca…
Finish reading the article.
>According to Simha’s estimates, humans produce enough urine to replace about one-quarter of current nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers worldwide; it also contains potassium and many micronutrients (see ‘What’s in urine’). On top of that, not flushing urine down the drain could save vast amounts of water and reduce some of the strain on ageing and overloaded sewer systems.
>In a study[1] that modelled wastewater-management systems in three US states, she and her colleagues compared conventional wastewater systems with hypothetical ones that divert urine and use the recovered nutrients to replace synthetic fertilizers*. They projected that communities with urine diversion could lower their overall greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 47%, energy consumption by up to 41%, freshwater use by about half, and nutrient pollution from the wastewater by up to 64%, depending on the technologies used.
[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&d...