Invention Everyone is Talking About: Created a Urinal that Converts Urine into Electricity

Is there an end to the ingenuity of inventors who see the potential for creating renewable energy sources in every organic material? Judging by the latest invention, a urinal that converts urine into electrical energy, strong enough to charge your mobile phone, the possibilities are indeed endless.

Ioannis Ieropoulos, a scientist at the Bioenergy Centre in Bristol, has designed a urinal that converts urine into electrical energy. Originally, the invention was intended for refugee camps.

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– This is a urinal that runs on urine and is suitable for installation in refugee camps. It can be set up in slums, impoverished neighborhoods. It is suitable for installation anywhere where there is no built infrastructure, Ieropoulos idealistically explains to DW.

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Urine, scientists explain, is not just a waste product of the human body. Urine is a fuel that can be used to charge batteries. Wastewater has been a problem for residents of many cities for decades. However, this problem could soon be solved. As early as 2012, we reported on research into microbial fuel cells conducted by experts from Oregon State University.

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– If we manage to transfer this technology to the commercial sector, wastewater will become a major energy producer with relatively low energy expenditure, said Professor Hong Liu from the University of Oregon. The significance of the research in Oregon lies in the fact that existing models for utilizing fecal waste have had negative byproducts, such as hydrogen sulfide and methane, which are harmful to the environment. The latest research is focused on systems that are not harmful to the environment and successfully produce electrical energy.

– This is a very important step towards our goal. Sewage is actually the fuel we use to produce electrical energy. We are still looking for some improvements in the design of the cathode chamber and I am trying to better understand the interaction between different microbial species. But it is clear that with the new approach we are obtaining significantly more energy, said Frank Chaplen, associate professor of biological and ecological engineering at the University of Oregon to the media.