USF invented sanitation system goes into mass production • St Pete Catalyst

Thanks to the University of South Florida and a team led by Professor Daniel Yeh, there is a new weapon in the global struggle to provide clean water and sanitation.

USF invented a solar-powered machine to generate nutrients, energy, and clean water by safely separating them from human wastewater. The USF team built the NEWgenerator to address global sanitation challenges, and the latest version was recently shipped to South Africa, where it will go into mass production.

In September 2020, the USF Transfer Office signed a licensing agreement with WEC Projects of South Africa. Yeh, professor of civil and environmental engineering, sent an updated version of the NEWgenerator to the South African municipality of Soweto, which receives its water and sanitation services from the city of Johannesburg. Powered by the sun, the sanitation system operates off the grid and enables the communities that use it to become more self-reliant. NEWgenerator has been designed to develop areas that do not have access to a reliable electricity grid or sewage systems.

“This final step is a testament to the dedication, tenacity and creativity of the USF team and our overseas partners,” said Yeh.

Yeh said that with the Covid pandemic and the resulting global supply chain disruptions, “the need for clean drinking water and safe sanitation has never been more urgent.”

“We are driven by the mission of making our technology available worldwide to anyone who needs it,” he added.

Yeh called NEWgenerator’s latest model “the most advanced and rugged version yet”. He said it has a more intuitive control system that can be fully operated from a distance. The remote control function allows operators to identify and solve problems, such as adjusting flow rates and chemical levels, without being on site.

The machine uses a new bioreactor to break down waste and organic material using microorganisms, and a microscopic fine-pored membrane filter to trap bacteria and viruses. Similar to city drinking water, the clean water that passes through the membrane is then disinfected with chlorine. The recycled water can also be used for flushing toilets and irrigation, which will allow crops to grow even in drought conditions.

WEC Projects and the South African Sanitation Technology Enterprise Program will use the NEWgenerator unit as a model for what will now be manufactured using local parts and labor. The South African government has pledged to upgrade its sanitation system in schools, many of which still lack running water and electricity.

Gunter Rencken, technical director of WEC projects, said that while the NEWgenerator “addresses a number of pressing social needs, especially in rural and informal settlements, it can be used in other areas as well.

“These can include ecotourism, for schools, housing projects and in emergency situations… we are proud to be associated with a project such as NEWgenerator and look forward to its development and deployment in Africa. . “

WEC Projects is not the only company to market the NEWgenerator. Eram Scientific Solutions and Elefo Biotech, both based in India, also signed agreements to mass-produce the system. NEWgenerator’s original model was first tested in India in 2016 and has been operating in Durban, South Africa since 2018.

Yeh’s latest success follows a $ 2 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation as part of its Toilets Reinvented program. The program aims to alleviate the infrastructure problems caused by rapid and unplanned urbanization.