Category: English

The group is happy to share that we have received a 4 million SEK research project grant within the area of development research from the Swedish Research Council. The project, “UDT 2.0 – Urine Dehydration Technology for Sanitation 2.0“, has the broader objective of moving sanitation research beyond the toilet (Urine-Diverting Toilet; UDT) by demonstrating a safe, productive and sustainable approach to urine recycling (Urine Dehydration Technology; UDT2.0). Our focus will be on Bolivia, specifically the city of Cochabamba where water is scare, expensive, and with very few piped water connections in peri-urban areas. The work will be conducted by researchers from our group at SLU and the University of San-Simón in Bolivia over 3.5 years between 2019 and 2022. 

Contact: Björn Vinnerås

Following a successfull application to the SLU Climate Fund, we plan to replace a conventional toilet at SLU’s MVM building with a urine-diverting flush toilet during the spring. Urine-diverting toilets handle urine and faeces separately – the toilet leads the urine to a separate collection system while faeces are flushed with water, just like a conventional toilet. The proposed installation will highlight 20+ years of Swedish research on the topic, act as an educational/research platform, and practically support building a climate-smart SLU campus.

The toilet will be designed by EOOS GmbH and there are plans make use of the group’s dehydration technology that converts urine into a dry, hygienic, nutrient-rich powder. The project also links our ongoing urine research with SLU Holding (commercialisation), Sweden Water Research (plans to install urine-diverting toilets in Skåne), and Ultuna Täppförening (for applying dried urine-based fertiliser in community gardens in Uppsala). 

Contact: Björn Vinnerås

My name is Caroline Karlsson and I am a Masters student in Environmental and Water Engineering at Uppsala University and SLU. From now until June 2019, l will work on my Master Thesis project at the Department of Energy and Technology at SLU. The project is a technical evaluation of a pilot project concerning urine drying in Tampere, Finland. I will take part in the construction and installation of the urine drying units and while the system is running I will take samples and perform analyses, such as determining the concentrations of potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen in the dried urine. I will also evaluate how well the system is functioning on site, in terms of capacity and energy consumption.

Contact: Björn Vinnerås

On the 17th of January, Olle Castell, Caroline Gårdestedt och Malin Denninger from the Swedish Red Cross, and Axel Wurtz and Jairo Mosquera from Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) came to visit Cecilia Lalander and Annika Nordin from the Environmental Engineering group. Several possible treatment technologies for the treatment of faecal sludge in emergency settings were discussed. Fly larvae composting and thermophilic aerobic digestion (TAD) were discussed in detail, as these are treatments that Cecilia and Annika have expert knowledge in. There was also time for a visit to the fly facility. Olle Castell and Malin Denninger updated Cecilia on the current situation in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. In early 2018, Cecilia spent one month in the camps with the Swedish Red Cross with the mission to evaluated possible treatment methods for the treatment of faecal sludge in the camps. We are pleased that the collaboration between the Swedish Red Cross and the Environmental Engineering group continues.

We congratulate Mr Nduhiu Johnson Gitahi to the degree Doctor of Philosophy achieved for his thesis work: Isolation, serotyping & molecular characterization of enteric pathogens for validation of Peepoo sanitization along handling chain at Kibera, Nairobi Kenya.