Biogas Generated From Urine Can Be Used For Cooking, Taking Showers, Claims Mexican Engineer

Nobody would have thought that human urine could be put to any use except Mexican engineer Gabriel Luna-Sandoval. It was when Luna-Sandoval was urinating one day that an idea struck his mind of using the yellow liquid elsewhere.

After almost nine years, the researcher now claim to have developed a machine that can transform urine into a biogas to serve as a household heater for cooking purpose or taking showers. The 41-year-old University of Sonora State researcher is very hopeful of his invention.

Luna-Sandoval has successfully extracted oxygen from urine. He claims that even astronauts can take a small device in space to create oxygen with their own urine in emergency situations.

The Mexican Space Agency has approved of the idea and told AFP in a statement that it is a "great innovation" with "high viability to be considered in space technology and for space walks."

However, the invention's first application would be in homes. Mexican homes normally uses liquefied petroleum gas, which also contributes to climate change. People can now use special container to transform their urine into a biogas.

The engineer has created a square vase shaped acrylic container in which urine is poured. The prototype, which roughly measures about 20-square-centimeters, has stainless steel electrodes which send electricity into it to separate oxygen and hydrogen, with the latter becoming a biogas.

The container will be connected to a home's pipes through which the biogas would travel to heat the water in bathrooms and kitchen. As biogas is odorless, people won't need to worry about their food or showers getting foul urine smell. A tight seal will ensure that urine smell doesn't escape the container. However, cleaning the container would entail having to withstand the smell.

Luna-Sandoval said that a person could fill the container by using a special urinal with a tube linked to the machine. It would, however, be difficult for women to use the urinal as they would have to urinate into a container and then pour the content into the cube.

An adult produces 1.4 liters of urine per day, or 25,550 liters in 50 years' time. The engineer said his invention requires just 13 to 21 milliliters of urine for a 15-minute hot shower, while cooking beans for one hour demands only 70 to 130 milliliters of the yellow liquid.

The developer is also looking at some other uses of the liquid. The hydrogen that is created in the container could also be used for engines with internal combustion. He is also looking forward to test it on small electricity generators.

For his invention, Luna-Sandoval was also featured in the governmental National Science and Technology Council official publication article.

Luna-Sandoval's invention "is not absurd," said Ulises Cano, a member of the National Researchers System of Mexico.

The electrochemistry expert said it is "technically viable, but you would have to look at its economic viability."

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