An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces

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dc.contributor.authorOnabanjo, Tosin
dc.contributor.authorKolios, Athanasios
dc.contributor.authorPatchigolla, Kumar
dc.contributor.authorWagland, Stuart Thomas
dc.contributor.authorFidalgo Fernandez, Beatriz
dc.contributor.authorJurado Pontes, Nelia
dc.contributor.authorHanak, Dawid P.
dc.contributor.authorManovic, Vasilije
dc.contributor.authorParker, Alison
dc.contributor.authorMcAdam, Ewan J.
dc.contributor.authorWilliams, Leon
dc.contributor.authorTyrrel, Sean F.
dc.contributor.authorCartmell, Elise
dc.date.accessioned2016-08-15T13:57:41Z
dc.date.available2016-08-15T13:57:41Z
dc.date.issued2016-07-27
dc.description.abstractPoor sanitation is one of the major hindrances to the global sustainable development goals. The Reinvent the Toilet Challenge of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is set to develop affordable, next-generation sanitary systems that can ensure safe treatment and wide accessibility without compromise on sustainable use of natural resources and the environment. Energy recovery from human excreta is likely to be a cornerstone of future sustainable sanitary systems. Faeces combustion was investigated using a bench-scale downdraft combustor test rig, alongside with wood biomass and simulant faeces. Parameters such as air flow rate, fuel pellet size, bed height, and fuel ignition mode were varied to establish the combustion operating range of the test rig and the optimum conditions for converting the faecal biomass to energy. The experimental results show that the dry human faeces had a higher energy content (∼25 MJ/kg) than wood biomass. At equivalence ratio between 0.86 and 1.12, the combustion temperature and fuel burn rate ranged from 431 to 558 °C and 1.53 to 2.30 g/min respectively. Preliminary results for the simulant faeces show that a minimum combustion bed temperature of 600 ± 10 °C can handle faeces up to 60 wt.% moisture at optimum air-to-fuel ratio. Further investigation is required to establish the appropriate trade-off limits for drying and energy recovery, considering different stool types, moisture content and drying characteristics. This is important for the design and further development of a self-sustained energy conversion and recovery systems for the NMT and similar sanitary solutions.en_UK
dc.identifier.citationOnabanjo T, Kolios A, Patchigolla K, et al., (2016) An experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faeces. Fuel, Volume 184, November 2016, pp. 780-791en_UK
dc.identifier.cris15023102
dc.identifier.issn0016-2361
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2016.07.077.
dc.identifier.urihttp://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/10302
dc.language.isoenen_UK
dc.publisherElsevieren_UK
dc.rightsAttribution 4.0 Internationalen_UK
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectFaecal biomassen_UK
dc.subjectCombustionen_UK
dc.subjectSmoulderingen_UK
dc.subjectNon-sewered sanitary systemsen_UK
dc.subjectNano membrane toileten_UK
dc.titleAn experimental investigation of the combustion performance of human faecesen_UK
dc.typeArticleen_UK

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