Recycling technology turns human waste into drinkable water

Bill Gates funds and promotes technology that transforms human excrement into energy and safe drinking water.

A machine known as the Janicki Omniprocessor has been designed to help developing countries obtain clean drinking water by converting human waste into safe drinkable water and the project has received a lot of enthusiasm from billionaire activist Bill Gates, as well as funding from the Gates Foundation.

Gates is committed to bringing clean water to the people who are in need of it.

In a recent video posted on thegatesnotes YouTube channel, the omniprocessor was introduced and a demonstration was conducted, which ended with Bill Gates drinking a cup of the water that was produced from the machine. The water he drank had been human waste only five minutes before.

On his official blog Gates posted that “The water tasted as good as any I’ve had out of a bottle. And having studied the engineering behind it, I would happily drink it every day. It’s that safe.”

The recycling technology could change billions of lives.

According to Gates, at least two billion people do not have safe waste disposal systems. Waste pollutes drinking water for millions and disease that results from a lack of sanitation kills hundreds of thousands of children, annually. Furthermore, those children who manage to survive it often do not full develop physically or mentally.

Gates added that ‘If we can develop safe, affordable ways to get rid of human waste, we can prevent many of those deaths.”

The Omniprocessor was developed by Seattle-based engineering firm Janicki Bioenergy and has been designed as a viable sanitation solution for cultures were western toilet systems are not a realistic possibility.

The way the machine works is it takes untreated feces, boils them and uses an energy efficient steam engine process to purify it. In addition to creating safe drinking water out of the waste, the machine also turns it into ash and electricity.

According to Gates, using the waste of 100,000 people, the next generation of the Omniprocessor will have the capacity to generate as much as 86,000 liters of water, daily, and 250 kilowatts of electricity.

The goal is to make the Omniprocessor a low-cost investment for entrepreneurs in countries who can make use of the recycling technology and create their own lucrative waste-treatment business. A trial will take place this year in Dakar, Senegal.