So what is Bill Gates up to these days? That’s a good question, isn’t it? How about we quote Mr. Gates here about his recent activity? His blog post published on last Monday reads, “I watched the piles of feces go up the conveyor belt and drop into a large bin. They made their way through the machine, getting boiled and treated. A few minutes later I took a long taste of the end result: a glass of delicious drinking water.”
Yes, that is correct. The gadget comes from Janicki Bioenergy as a part of Gates Foundation effort to improve the sanitation situation in developing and poor countries. The gadget is known as Janicki Omniprocessor and has been named after the CEO Peter Janicki of Janicki Bioenergy. Gates’ post further read, “The water tasted as good as any I’ve had out of a bottle. And having studied the engineering behind it, I would happily drink it every day. It’s that safe.”
The gadget works by transforming waste into electricity, ash and potable water. This is achieved by drying the waste and then burning it, thus resulting in the creation of steam that cranks up an engine that then creates electricity. While this is going on, the water that was removed from the sludge is filtered and portable water is achieved.
Almost 2 billion persons make use of latrines that are not properly drained and this gadget addresses this particular issue. The improperly drained waste eventually results in water contamination and is the cause of death of more than 700,000 children annually. Bill Gates has been working on this cause since 2011 and trying to push forward the idea of a complete redesign of the toilet. The key idea is to make use of the waste and prevent it from contaminating water.
Janicki Omniprocessor has been put to use at Senegal in a pilot project. However, Gates wants this idea to spread out and therefore, reinvent the sewage treatment plant. Watch the video below to know more!