BIO-TOILETSBy: Shashank Kanavalli

Bio-Toilets & Types

The bio-toilet is a thermophilic(50 to 700C) digesting toilet that is becoming commercially available and basically used in railway coaches, theme parks, gardens and other public utilities

Depending on the type of digestion there are two types of Bio-Toilets viz Conventional aerobic dry toilets and anaerobic digester toilets.

Aerobic dry toilets: A dry toilet is a aerobic type toilet where in a user sits on a raised pedestal type toilet or he can squat in case of squat toilet. In both the cases the excreta(urine and feces) falls through a drop hole. These toilets may use little or no water.

Source: www.sca.nsw.gov.cu

There are several types of toilets which are referred to as "dry toilets". All of them work without flush water and without a connection to a sewer system or septic tank: Aerobic Composting toilets -in most cases

without urine diversion but can also be with urine diversion. The above figure refers to composting toilets.

Urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDT) - with urine diversion, as the name implies

Arborloo- which is similar to a pit latrine but has a much shallower pit and is designed for making compost in the pit.

Urine Diverting Dry Toilets (UDDT’s): UDDT’s collection system is unlike conventional composting system. It separately collects urine and feces. It provides pathogen free and odor free environment without the use of flush water. This dried feces and distilled urine can be used as manure in agriculture.

Source: learn.open.ac.uk

Arborloo toilets: An arborloo is a simple and ecological type of dry toilet consisting of pit, concrete slab, superstructure(toilet house) and a ring beam. The concept is to fill the pit with feces upto 3/4th depth and then the superstructure is moved to a new pit and the old pit is used to grow the vegetation.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arborloo

Anaerobic Bio-Toilets: These are the toilets where degradation of excreta takes place in the presence of anaerobic bacterias. This requires the addition of nutrient medium for anaerobic degradation.

These are also available in models that are available aerobic bio-toilets viz anaerobic dry composting type, UDDT’s and aborloo.

Typical anaerobic biodigester

Source: Stone India

Need

Sanitation facilities in India are alarming with over 600 million people (half of India's population) having no access to toilets. People are forced to defecate in the open. This poses health hazards, raises environmental concerns and leads to water contamination. This is coupled with the Indian Railways’s open-chute toilet system wherein the human waste drops on the rail tracks. Untreated human waste or the fecal matter lying in the open is a grave threat to the well-being and good health of the society and the environment.

It is estimated that 10 Million Children die under the age of 5, die Globally yearly due to improper Sanitation. Of these, 2.4 Million Children belong to India.

So it is necessary to provide proper sanitation and it has to be made sure that every citizen has access to toilets.

Advantages of Bio-Toilets

Decomposes Solid Waste to Water & Bio Gas Eco-Friendly 100% Hazard Free Functions efficiently at sub zero – 55 Degrees

Centigrade Plays a critical role in Preventable Healthcare

as the Bio Toilet eliminates disease causing pathogens completely.

Eliminates load on existing Sewerage System

Can be installed in any remote location

Comparison btw Bio-Toilet System & Septic Tank SystemS No Biological Toilet System Septic Tank System

1 The wastes from the toilet are digested by the bio media; resulting in neutral water and gas.

The wastes in the septic tank are not digested and it seeps into the ground.

2 A small tank is required as the wastes are digested and converted fully into water.

A very large septic tank is required, nearly 10 times the volume of the Bio digester tank.

3 Less floor space required as the Bio digester tank is small in size.

Large floor area required almost twice that of the Bio digester tank.

S No Biological Toilet System Septic Tank System 4 The Bio digester tank can be

placed on the ground, so no digging or foundation required, so installation is fast.

Septic tank requires excavation, cementing, curing, partitioning, etc. So, it is a labour intensive and time consuming process and installation is slow.

5 Here the discharge is fully digested non toxic, neutral water, so the environment is not polluted.

Here the untreated wastes seep into the ground, which may result in ground water contamination leading to an epidemic.

6 This system requires less maintenance and does not require periodic sludge removal as the wastes are converted into water.

This system requires periodic sludge removal which may lead to waste spillage on the ground resulting in unhygienic conditions and diseases.

7 The discharge water may be used for irrigation in fields.

The discharge cannot be used for irrigation in fields as it contains pathogenic bacteria.