Samsung has announced that it has finished work on a prototype toilet with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of the latter’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, It’s not the first toilet project that Bill Gates has been involved with. Seven years ago, he invested in a machine that converts waste to water and electricity.
The prototype is designed for household-use and uses heat-treatment and bioprocessing to kill pathogens in human waste. These processes “make the release effluent and solids safe for the environment.” As water scarcity is an issue in some places, the toilet treats the water so that it can be used again. According to Samsung, the solid waste is dehydrated, dried, and combusted into ashes while urine is treated through a biological purification process.
While most people in developed countries do not think much about the toilet, there are around 3.6 billion people that don’t have access to these facilities. Around half a million kids under five die each year due to diarrheal diseases stemming from limited access to clean water and hygiene.
To help countries get this product into the homes of more people, Samsung is planning to offer royalty-free licences of patents related to this project to developing countries. This sharing of information will take place during the commercialization stage. Once the design is more efficient, Samsung and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will find industry partners to help bring the product to market.
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