1. Background and aims

2. Challenges

3. Examples
     Janicki Bioenergy    Climate Foundation    Duke University    Unilever  

4. Related research efforts

5. Society and culture
     Media attention  

6. References

7. External links

Omni Processor is a name proposed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for a group of physical, biological or chemical treatment processes to process fecal sludge – a mixture of human excreta and water – in developing countries. One of the main treatment aims is pathogen removal to stop the spread of disease from fecal sludge. The term was created by staff of the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2012.^[1] It is not a trade mark for one specific product or technology. Several research teams are currently developing various types of omni processors with funding from the foundation. Examples of technologies which Omni Processors may employ include combustion, supercritical water oxidation and pyrolysis.

The term "omni" in its name refers to the fact that an Omni Processor machine can process a variety of waste streams or fuel sources.

Background and aims

Since 2012, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been funding research into what they have named "Omni Processors". An Omni Processor (OP) is any of various types of technologies that treat fecal sludge, also known as septage. The aim of the treatment is to remove all pathogens and at the same time to generate outputs of commercial value. These beneficial products can be energy and soil nutrients and might have the potential to allow a development of local business and revenue.^[1] The soil nutrients could be used as a form of reuse of excreta in agriculture. The Omni Processor program targets community scale solutions that may combine fecal sludge and solid waste processing. It complements the foundation's pit latrine emptying ("Omni-Ingestor") and "Reinvent the Toilet" investment programs.

Challenges

The Omni Processor is targeted as a solution for developing countries, although challenges around technical and financial aspects remain.^[2] Omni Processors and Omni Ingestors are being designed to provide an alternative to sewerage system-based technologies. They are also intended to address the large number of existing pit latrines which lack a supporting infrastructure of fecal sludge collection and processing when the pits are full. Sludge from pit latrines has to be removed from the pits for treatment and disposal either by pumping (if the fecal sludge is sufficiently liquid) or by manual emptying with shovels or other devices (in India, this practice is called manual scavenging). Despite new low-cost pumps being developed, only a small fraction of sludge is safely extracted and treated currently in many African and Asian cities.^[2][3]

It will be necessary to adapt established technologies in ways to fit developing world communities. The success of such technologies will depend on how well the process is managed.

Examples

Janicki Bioenergy

The U.S.-based company Janicki Bioenergy presented in 2014 a prototype using combustion. Their process is a sewage sludge treatment system that produces drinking water and electrical energy as end products from sewage sludge.^[4] Manufactured by Janicki Bioenergy, the proof of concept model was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The S100 prototype model can produce 10,800 liters of drinking water per day and 100 kW net electricity. A larger model under development, the S200, is designed to handle the waste from 100,000 people, produce 86,000 litres of drinking water per day and 250 kW net output electricity. These systems are designed to provide a "self-sustaining bioenergy" process.^[5][6]

The treatment process first involves boiling the sewage sludge, during which water vapour is boiled off and recovered. A dry sludge is left behind which is then combusted as fuel to heat a boiler. This boiler produces steam and the heat necessary for the boiling process. The steam is then used to generate electrical energy. Some of this electrical energy is used for the final water reverse osmosis purification stages to produce safe drinking water, and to power ancillary pumps, fans and motors.

A pilot project of Janicki Bioenergy's Omniprocessor was installed in Dakar, Senegal, in 2015 and can now treat the fecal sludge of 50,000-100,000 people.^[7]

Climate Foundation

The U.S.-based NGO Climate Foundation, in collaboration with Stanford University, has built several pilot-scale reactors to treat human waste and turn it into biochar, which can be used as an agricultural soil amendment.^[8]

Duke University

Scientists at Duke University in the U.S. have developed and are testing a prototype fecal sludge treatment unit that fits in a 20-foot shipping container and treats the fecal matter of roughly 1000 people using supercritical water oxidation.^[9]

Unilever

Unilever PLC in the United Kingdom is developing a pyrolysis-based fecael sludge treatment unit designed to serve over 2000 people.^[10]

Related research efforts

The Omni Processor initiative for processing fecal sludge is being complemented by an effort to develop new technologies for improved pit latrine emptying (called by the Gates Foundation the “Omni Ingestor”^[11]) and by the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge. The latter is a long-term research and development effort to develop a hygienic, stand-alone toilet. It is focused on "reinventing the flush toilet". The aim is to create a toilet that not only removes pathogens from human excreta, but also recovers resources such as energy, clean water, and nutrients (a concept also known as reuse of excreta). It should operate “off the grid” without connections to water, sewer, or electrical networks. Finally, it should cost less than 5 US-cents per user per day.^[12]

Society and culture

Media attention

In a publicity stunt in late 2014, Bill Gates drank the water produced from Janicki Bioenergy's Omni Processor system, causing widespread media attention.^[5] In early 2015, Gates appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and challenged Fallon to see if he could taste the difference between water from this particular "Omni Processor" or bottled water.^[13]

References

External links

• Water, sanitation and hygiene program of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

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