Makenutri
Bachelor Thesis
In 2018, I did my Bachelor thesis with the title; “Development of an innovative solution for the extraction of nutrition from human urine. A product that enables a circular economy and a sustainable society in El Alto, Bolivia”. The product is adapted for developing countries and is therefore self-instructional, intuitive and cost-effective.
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Tools
Ideation Prototyping Sketches
Interviews Eco Design Wheel
Software
CATIA V5 Alias Photoshop
Project Brief
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In rural areas that lack sewage systems, urine management is a major problem. This is the case in El Alto, Bolivia. The solution in El Alto is to collect urine from households and store it in a facility with tanks of 5000 litres. This system is a linear situation - where the nutrients in the urine cannot return to agriculture.
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Again AB is a research company focusing on sanitation who has invented ZeoPeat, which is a powder consisting of zeolite and magnesium charged peat. When the Zeopeat is allowed to react with urine, it creates water, which can be used for agriculture, and a precipitate, which is a mud-like nutritious fertilizer.
The Bachelor Thesis task was to create a product adapted for El Alto which extracts nutrients and water from urine by using Agains Invention Zeopeat and to turn the linear process circular. Some demands were that the product should work without electricity, be easy to use for one person, be cost-effective and offer good usability.
Result
Designed for rural areas
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The solution that solves the unsustainable solution by using Again invention ZeoPeat is the product concept Makenutri. A conical container with a three-legged construction that enables manual handling of mixing urine with ZeoPeat.
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The concept offers a solution that is easy to use and to understand, which enables important nutrients can get back to the earth, creating a circular system. It is designed specially for the current situation in Bolivia, however, it can be used for similar systems in different rural areas.
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A use cycle of Makenutri:
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Urine from the large cisterns is added in the Makenutri container.
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ZeoPeat is added via the same hole in the lid.
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Urine and ZeoPeat are mixed by hand with the stirrer. The stirrer is adapted to create a good flow, which enables the ZeoPeat to come into contact and react with the urine.
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The mixing should take place in batches for 20 minutes.
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After stirring, the product should be left for 20 minutes when sedimentation takes place.
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When the sedimentation is complete, water is poured out of the product via the tap. Which enables good management of the water.
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The fertilizer is separated via an outlet hatch at the bottom which is opened manually with a buckle. The conical shape of the container helps to get all the precipitate out.
After these steps the product is ready for a new use cycle.
Function
Process
Investigations of current situation in El Alto
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A large task was to get information about the future users, the use environment and the current system in place in Bolivia. Since we did not have access to workers in Bolivia, we collected information from literature and webb. We also had interviews with representatives from the Swedish aid organization Sida, which have worked in place in El Alto with improving water and sanitation issues. Sida had great knowledge of El Altos waste management system since they cofounded the current system.
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Picture source: Sida
Concept Development
Construction, Design for repair & CAD
The Makenutri concept consists of many parts. A large part of the construction process consisted of choosing construction wisely to make the product as cheap as possible and to offer reparation possibilities. For example, the tap is standardized, therefore, it is cheap and it is possible to add a new tap if the first one is compromised. The pedals in the stirrer can be removed and replaced with another piece of plastic or metal, which offers cheap repair. ​
The concept was visualized with a CAD model created in CATIA and Alias Autodesk.
A success story
Picture source: Again AB.
Prototype in Bolivia
Sometimes even school projects can make an impact. According to Agains AB's website, in December 2019, 2 Makenutri reactors were on the way to be tested on location in Bolivia. The reactors design has been updated. After the Bachelor Thesis ended, the demand on a manual construction was updated and it was decided that an electrical solution was preferable. Now, the updated Makenutri concept has an electrical stirrer instead of a manual, and can therefore manage larger amounts in a use cycle. The basic construction and function are, however, very similar and the project team of students included in this project, including me, are very happy to see that our work has had an impact.