SBIR Phase I: Automated Building Scale Urine Treatment System

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目的更广泛影响在于将水污染源转变为可再生化肥来源，这将减少对废水处理和化肥生产中不可再生资源的依赖。这个项目不是将所有的生活污水合并成一个稀释流，而是通过分离和回收营养污染的最大来源：尿液来颠覆这种模式。特殊厕所在碗的前面有一个单独的排水口，通过专用管道将尿液引导到一个紧凑的建筑规模的处理器，后者将其转化为净化的液体肥料。这项技术将立即用于敏感的分水岭，那里的法规要求土地所有者使用昂贵的化粪池系统升级来去除废水中的氮。尿液分流可能是此类升级的替代方案，成本更低，持续能源需求更少，并有生产最终产品化肥的额外好处。当技术更加成熟时，它可以应用于中央下水道服务的地区，作为一种分散的营养恢复策略。这项技术将在安装和维修方面创造就业机会，减轻废水处理厂的负荷，帮助恢复我们的水道，并生产出用于农业的清洁国产肥料。这个SBIR第一阶段项目将推进建筑规模的尿液收集和处理系统的转换，并与商业上可获得的尿液分流马桶装置相结合，创造一个具有传统浴室体验的先进资源回收系统。该系统采用了四个步骤：酸化、巴氏杀菌、冷冻浓缩和木炭过滤。这四个步骤的综合效果包括减少体积、控制气味、稳定营养和去除病原体和药物残留等污染物。该项目有两个主要目标：1)测量处理步骤的能源需求，利用这些数据优化冷冻浓缩步骤；2)在持续运行期间测试性能，以确定和解决与生物膜或矿物垢形成有关的问题。拟议的冷冻浓缩器使用一种专有技术，该技术机械简单、节能，并可扩展到较小的物理占地面积。除了尿液分流，这种设备还可以在其他领域有有用的应用，这些领域需要一种小型、机械简单且价格低廉的脱水系统。这四个处理子系统将使用热力和水力模型进行设计，并使用来源分离马桶的真实尿液进行测试。子系统将进行单独的性能和能效测试，然后作为一个综合系统进行测试。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project lies in transforming a source of water pollution into a renewable source of fertilizer, which will reduce dependence on non-renewable resources for both wastewater treatment and fertilizer production. Rather than combining all domestic wastewater into one dilute stream, this project inverts the paradigm by separating out and recycling the largest source of nutrient pollution: urine. Special toilets with a separate drain at the front of the bowl direct urine through dedicated plumbing to a compact building-scale processor, which converts it into a purified liquid fertilizer. This technology will have immediate utility in sensitive watersheds where regulations require landowners to remove nitrogen from wastewater using expensive septic systems upgrades. Urine diversion could be an alternative to such upgrades, at a lower cost, with less ongoing energy demand, and with the added benefit of producing fertilizer as an end product. When the technology is more mature, it could be applied in areas served by central sewers, as a decentralized nutrient recovery strategy. The technology will create jobs in installation and service, reduce the load on wastewater treatment plants, help restore our waterways, and yield a clean, domestically-produced fertilizer for use in agriculture.This SBIR Phase I project will advance translation of a building-scale urine collection and treatment system is paired with commercially-available urine-diverting toilet fixtures to create an advanced resource recovery system with a conventional bathroom experience. The system employs a four-step process: acidification, pasteurization, freeze concentration, and charcoal filtration. The combined effect of these four steps includes volume reduction, odor control, nutrient stabilization, and removal of contaminants such as pathogens and pharmaceutical residues. The project has two main goals: 1) measuring the energy requirements of the treatment steps, using these data to optimize the freeze concentration step; and 2) testing the performance during ongoing operation to identify and address problems relating to biofilm or mineral scale formation. The proposed freeze concentrator uses a proprietary technology that is mechanically simple, energy-efficient, and scalable to a small physical footprint. In addition to urine diversion, this device could have useful applications in other fields requiring a small, mechanically simple, and inexpensive dewatering system. The four processing subsystems will be designed using thermal and hydraulic modeling, and tested using real urine from a source-separating toilet. Subsystems will be tested individually for performance and energy efficiency, and then together as an integrated system.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.