VIDEO: NEWGENERATOR WASTE TREATMENT SYSTEM TREATS WASTE WATER AND RECOVERS ENERGY

Do you ever sit and really think what happens after the toilet is flushed? In developing countries, it is a serious problem. A system called NEWgenerator is designed to help take the strain off sewage infrastructure, recovering energy, cleaning water and fertilizes the water from the sewage. Units will soon be installed in South Africa. 

Plenty of past projects have tried to clean up the sewage issues in developing countries. The Loowatt turns human waste into biogas fertilizer, a Bristol team fitted a urinal with a microbial fuel cell to produce "pee power", and a Nano Membrane Toilet is a waterless design that burns solid waste to produce fertilizer and electricity. 

The NEWgenerator is designed by a team of engineers from the University of South Florida (USF). The design processes waste that produce three different resources. By hooking it up to existing toilet blocks, the system also removes the need for the facility to be connected to sewage systems. 

The first generation of the NEWgenerator was installed for communities in India last year, and now the USF team has been awarded a grant of $1.14 million (US) by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to bring two new versions of the system to Durban, South Africa. 

Both models will be hooked up to Community Ablution Blocks (CABs), shipping containers that have been repurposed with toilets, showers and sinks. These facilities have been installed by the South African government to serve developing communities that were previously lacking these vital amenities.

Learn more about the innovative technology that could change the way the world looks at waste and the food, water, energy, by watching the video below: