[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Composting toilets URINE SEPARATION

[Norbert Senf]

At 10:36 PM 12/23/2006 -0800, John Salmen wrote:
>Nitrate contamination from urine is a major problem. Composting toilets are
>of no benefit and can worsen some situations 
>unless urine is dealt with in a(snip)

That's one thing I like about the Clivus design. 
The main downside is the bulk of
the toilet due to the space and time required by 
the mouldering process. The nitrogen
is balanced by the addition of carbon (woodchips). The excess moisture is
handled by the vent fan, which does carry an energy penalty in very
cold weather. The inputs are human waste, air and 
electricity, with compost and moist air as the outputs.

The New Scientist article states that the energy 
penalty simply for "polishing" sewage
treatment plant output due to excess urine is 12 
watts per person (for everyone in Britain).
That's about 0.3 kW-h/day.


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