Bio-toilet to separate solid & liquid waste at source: Developed jointly by the faculty of the department of mechanical engineering at (MIT) and Maharashtra Institute of Pharmacy.

Bio-toilet to separate solid & liquid waste at source

PUNE: A bio-toilet with a mechanism to separate solid and liquid waste at source has been developed jointly by the faculty of the department of mechanical engineering at Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT) and Maharashtra Institute of Pharmacy.

The bio-toilet has been attached with a digester that converts accumulated waste into methane and water. MIT’s mechanical engineering department took about six years to develop the mechanism, which is being run on a pilot basis on the college campus for about a year. The project has received funding from the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) for scaling up production.

Project lead and assistant professor Aarti Shastri from MIT’s mechanical department said that the function of any bio-digester is to digest accumulated waste and convert it into methane and water. "The usual bio-toilet works in this fashion. However, our uniquely designed bio-toilets have significant advantage over conventional bio-digester. With a tank size of less than 1/3 of conventional bio-digester, the efficacy is increased two-fold"

The conventional bio-digester has a tank size of 700 litres and caters to 6 to 7 persons, whereas the MIT bio-toilet has a size of 200 litres and caters to 15 persons per day, said Shastri. Founder of the institute,V D Karad, supported the project and provided all facilities.

The project has also been shortlisted by AICTE from among 700 submissions across the country. “We have already found a manufacturing partner and received order from a local corporator for four bio-toilets for Mukundnagar area."
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/bio-toilet-to-separate-solid-liquid-waste-at-source/articleshow/64788426.cms