human excrement for fertilizer

[beelove]

I just think its a fact of life that eventually we are going to have to recycle our waste. Putting minerals and fertilizers into the soil, consuming the produce and then pumping away the by product is unsustainable.

I like the idea of methane digesters. Using our waste for fuel before it becomes fertilizer seems like the best plan to me.

[MarkEinOz]

Yes I agree. Our waterboard down here in Melbourne, runs one of the worlds largest biological digesters now, and somewhat pioneered the super processing down to "dirt" end product. They current dry and pelletized solid waste (aka dynamic lifter style) that is actually being used in brickmaking due to the high mineral content. There is also trials being undertaken in market gardens, as it is completely clean and bug free.

I will post if I discover any further progress.

[moe]

But I do applaud your creative thoughts!

I cant really take the credit unfortunately. The Chinese have been doing it for a very, very long time. Ive seen some of the more modern techniques they are using such as the methane extraction to fuel power plants.

I looked into it a bit more. The general consensus is you compost your own waste for about a year and then its safe to use. 2 years if you want to be really careful.

Here are some youtube vids ive seen recently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BWc-RjuWbs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZwO...eature=related

[Ravnis]

I can't find the link, but when I was first researching aquaponics, I came across an experimental house setup where the waste of 4 people was used like aquaponics to fertilize hydroponic plants. I don't remember the exact details, but I thought it was a UVI experiment. It was on an Island.

The main issue with human waste is that bacteria such a e. coli can form spores so they can survive harsh environments. These are like seeds and they regrow when conditions are right. The theory behind the aerobic water systems is that the beneficial bacteria will outcompete the harmful ones and consume their food and them.

As far as putting it in an aquaponics type setup and reusing it, I would not do it without some way of testing for the bad bacterai. I wouldn't use my family as guinea pigs either... well maybe the inlaws j/k.

[beelove]

. The theory behind the aerobic water systems is that the beneficial bacteria will outcompete the harmful ones and consume their food and them.

Have you heard of a phage? I guess it is some sort of virus that infects harmful bacteria. They use the virus as medication in some countries and get the new viruses from the sewer. I'm not saying this is any solution to the question just interesting.

[moe]

Can ecoli survive high temperatures? Or do the spores go on after the heat subsides? How about UV sterilisers?

I think "phage" is a generic term, it means "eating" not sure if its latin or what not. Bacteriophage(s) are viruses that attack bacteria for instance. I'm sure there would be an ecoli bacteriophage. The problem with viruses is they aren't stable enough and mutate a lot. Like for instance that swine flu virus would have mutated many times before it went from person to person, thus became less effective (at making someone sick).

[Ravnis]

Yes, E. coli spores are killed by high temps. Sterilizers are used where high temp and time about 20 minutes are used to kill the spores. The humanure approach required a hot pile (~70C) to kill harmful microbes. Generally speaking, the more serious the microbe is at causing disease, the easier it is to kill.

[moe]

Generally speaking, the more serious the microbe is at causing disease, the easier it is to kill.

Ahh that makes sense... the ones that would be harm full to us would have to live in a temperature range similar to that of the human body (what is it 37 celcius?). Its amazing how how compost piles get.

Here was a guy who in the 70's who developed a way to capture the heat from a massive compost pile (6 metre diametre x 3 metre height).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Pain

I'm not sure if it was on this forum or another but there was someone inquiring about compost heating techniques. It could be done to heat a green house or fish pond. You need a lot of compost for it to last a long time the Jean Pain guy was using 50 tonnes. Ive seen smaller mounds, like the ones we'd have at home, last for about 3-4 weeks.

But I think in theory you could run black poly tube coiled up through a compost heap, run it to a tank coiled up in water attach it to a pump. You could probably get a temperature sensor to turn on/off in relation to heating requirements.

[beelove]

But I think in theory you could run black poly tube coiled up through a compost heap, run it to a tank coiled up in water attach it to a pump. You could probably get a temperature sensor to turn on/off in relation to heating requirements.

I worked on a date farm where they would run pipe straight through (no coil) the compost heap and they would heat the swimming pool with that. I'm not sure how much water was in the pool, or how hot it would keep it, but the water was very hot and it does not fluctuate muck at night.