Generating electricity with human waste

Hello everyone!

Science can be very broad, and we only know the things we are exposed to or have learned.

Sometime last year, I was having a conversation with a friend, and along the line, one thing led to another. I showed her a picture of what was happening in my compound and how disturbing the event had been. The next thing she said was, "Kingsleyy, this thing can be used to generate power if well processed." Immediately, my mind wandered far and arrived at a particular movie I have been fond of.

Before I proceed, here is the event that happened in my compound:

The low-budget soakaway for feces that we had been using in the compound got full, so we decided to hire someone to empty it. The guy did it manually—he dug the ground, opened the slab of the soakaway, poured some chemicals and salt into it, which helped to neutralize the smell, and then went ahead to use a bucket to bail out the decayed feces into the pit he had dug. I remember that day vividly; it was really uncomfortable for me because I hate anything with a bad odor. Although it didn’t smell, my mind was already convinced that it was going to, and that thought stayed with me all through the day.

So when @humbe heard about it, she said something like this could be processed and turned into fuel or power, but it wouldn't be a casual process—it would require some machines. Before even doing any research, my mind quickly recalled some scenes from the famous The Walking Dead series where decayed bodies were captured, processed, and used to generate fuel and power. Honestly, when I first saw that scene in the series, it seemed unbelievable, and I waved it off. But now I know—now I see that nothing in this world is truly a waste.

Afterwards, I did some research and discovered that it is actually real—human waste can be used to generate power through the process of wastewater treatment, particularly by harnessing microbial fuel cells. You can read more here

Ever since then, I have been wondering and wishing it were possible for an individual to carry out this conversion or if it could be done in a local way. It would really solve a major problem—the lack of electricity in my part of the world, at least for me and my compound alone.

But come to think of it, this could actually be implemented on a national level to supply electricity. The problem is that a country like mine is not developed enough to have all wastewater and human feces collected in one central system where they could be processed into electricity. Our soakaways are individually situated, and while the water chamber allows liquid waste to return to the earth, solid feces are stored and pumped out for disposal whenever the soakaway is full.

I wish it were possible to harness this energy efficiently. I wish it were possible for an individual to carry out the conversion manually without using big and costly equipment.

Thanks for reading.

Photos used are mine