But if by chance you ever find yourself living in a relatively small room or even in municipalities where the septic systems are a bit expensive or unavailable, just know that there is always an option. All you need to get is a composting toilet.

It can be a little bit difficult to understand perfectly how a waterless loo can actually be able to handle and decompose human waste. Considering that it also stays odorless, which is so unique.

If you’re wondering how possible this could be, just know that you’re in the right place. In this article, I will discuss all the fundamental aspects regarding a composting toilet.

So that the next time you think of having it, you also understand in detail how it works and other related aspects.

Now let’s get down to business and look at all the essential elements of this kind of lavatory.

So What is a Composting Toilet?

Presumably, you have seen or used one before. But if you haven’t, just know that this is a type of toilet that utilizes a natural process to treat and break down human waste.

It can be described as an alternative sewage treatment mechanism that decomposes feces on-site and converts into compost that is often used for gardening and soil amendments.

You do not need water to flush the poop into city sewerage or septic system or when using this toilet.

In fact, what you mostly need after finishing pooping are a wide range of carbon additives, depending on the manufacturer.

It is necessarily a type of latrine that bio-chemically decomposes the organic matter (in this case is human waste and other plant products) by using aerobic organisms.

Aerobic organisms are simply the types of bacteria that can be able to obtain oxygen from the atmosphere and also emit carbon gases.

And for that reason, you’ll hear other people referring to it as a dry toilet. Yes because it uses no water.

This type of toilet mainly uses a similar concept like one that takes place in a backyard composting pit.

Given that it relies on aerobic bacterial activity, it is vital to ensure that an ideal environment for these micro-organisms is created. This allows the bacteria to break down the waste efficiently.

Components of a Composting Toilet

If perhaps you intend to use this type of latrine for the first time, this is apparently what you’d want to know.

This lavatory entirely utilizes a biological process that you’ll find so interesting. But first, you have to know that these toilets have to be designed with particular components that allow them to attain the desirable results.

The main parts are two; sitting/squatting part and the collection/composting unit. The sitting/squatting section is merely for enabling you to get a better position and comfortably empty the bowels when using

The collection/composting unit, on the other hand, is what plays a significant role in the entire decomposition process. It is made of four major sections, which include the following;

1. Storage/composting chamber

This is the particular area where the wastes are reserved immediately after dropping. This is the compartment where the poop falls awaiting decomposition process.

But mainly, it serves as a space for the productive natural break down for both urine and human waste and converting the same into stable organic compounds.

Most manufacturers often design it somewhat in a slope-shape so that it becomes easy for it to separate urine from the solid waste.

2. Ventilation Unit

It is primarily designed to help in enhancing the degradation process. This is in the sense of making the toilet predominantly aerobic such that it can be able to let go of the malodorous gases naturally.

3. Leachate management mechanism

This is primarily designed to allow for the quick elimination of excess liquid that might end up mixing with the wastes.

The essence for this is to create an ideal environment for bacterial activity for a faster rate of decomposition.

Then there is an access door that is used for extracting the waste that has already been decomposed. This access door makes it easy for you to remove the compost after the entire natural decomposition process is over.

What It Takes for Decomposition to Happen in Composting Toilet

From the design and the components, you ought to realize that this particular type of lavatory does not allow for any form of liquid waste to mix with solid waste in the composting chamber.

Ordinarily, you’ll realize that 90% of human waste is made of water, which apparently, tends to evaporate rather fast.

Depending on each manufacturer, some are designed in such a manner that allows the urine to divert from the composting chamber. This enables it to evaporate relatively fast to the air through the vent system.

In some designs, the environmental elements such as sun and wind are used as catalysts for evaporating the urine content. Such are known as passive composting latrines.

In other cases extracted when full whereas other units are fitted with a particular electric system that heats up the liquid waste. This is intentionally designed to hasten the evaporation process for faster decomposition.

However, it is also essential to understand that whereas the evaporation of the liquid waste in the toilet is vital, the compost should not be entirely dry.

For relatively faster and natural decomposition process to take place, it is vital for the compost also to remain a little moist.

For this eco-friendly toilet to work efficiently and break down all the solid part of the human waste, four fundamental components must be in place and also well balanced.

Necessarily, these four elements include moisture, oxygen, aerobic bacteria, and heat.  That’s what enhances faster and efficient decomposition process in these toilets.

As long as these four elements are available in right proportions, the mixture of feces, toilet papers, and other additional organic plant components will be able to decompose naturally.

When the entire decomposition process is over, the finished product of the composted mixture commonly known as humus or humanure is formed.

Understand How Does a Compost Toilet Work

The urine moves by gravity to the deepest part of the composting chamber. The aerobic bacteria present are then engaged in an action that sees them convert the urine into a liquid that is rich in nitrogen.

When the urine and solid waste separate, an ideal environment is created for enhanced activity of aerobic organisms. Such organisms include bacteria, fungi, compost worms and insects among others.

Furthermore, continuous separation of urine from poop is also essential when it comes to the need for preventing possible lousy smell.

Because if you fail to keep the two separate then the process will become anaerobic, and that’s where the odor emanates from.

It is these organisms that slowly but actively break down the human waste, still at the composting chamber. It is here where the waste is converted into dry compost material.

For faster decomposition process, the right amount of carbon materials is also added. These include elements such as sawdust, paper, wood chips, ash, straw, and earth among others.

The trickiest aspect of the entire process is balancing all the four fundamental elements to the required levels.

Getting the balancing act right also significantly depends on how the manufacturer of the particular model integrate it.

Some manufacturers tend to use the manual agitators as a way of aerating the waste in the composition chamber. This helps in maintaining the required levels of oxygen.

Others, however, come with a different composting bin that keeps the chamber oxygenated and aerated by rotating it whenever there is a need to.

Also, some brands as I’d earlier described, use electric heat system to maintain the required temperature suitable for keeping the aerobic bacteria activity optimum all the time.

Other also use natural ventilation mechanism to provide warmth across the decomposing mixture. So it all depends on a specific manufacturer.

The dry compost material, which is the end product is more or less similar to the topsoil from the perspective of chemical composition, biologically and appealingly.

The ultimate dry product also contains various plant nutrients and can be used for gardening or backyard fertilizing.

Duration a Bio-Toilet System Takes to Decompose

Several variables determine how slow or fast the decomposition process can take place. Simply put, a lot of factors come into play hence tricky to precisely tell the duration the process takes.

Let’s have a look at a few of these aspects;

Number of users

What happens is that the decomposition process in a bio-toilet depends on the number of people that are often using it.

If the number is relatively high, the process will be a bit slow compared to when the users are few.

Again, more users would also require that balancing of all the four fundamental elements be done appropriately to prevent cases that would lead to anaerobic and eventually bad smell.

Volume of waste it can take

Another aspect is that different compostable toilets are designed to handle the various capacities of waste.

Some will generally take more time until the optimum level is attained, whereas other will typically take shorter time when the quantity is manageable.

So it all depends on the design hence appropriate to ensure that you consider this particular element when shopping for this kind of toilet.

Electric or non-electric

Probably some of you have a question in your mind “how much does a composting toilet cost?“. Let’s start by discuss the electric usage.

Electric waterless composting toilet works at a somewhat rapid rate than non-electric. The thing is that it is easy to regulate electric units especially from the aspect of temperature adjustments.

Non-electric units, on the other hand, may take more time to accomplish the decomposition process given that most of them depend on natural conditions to facilitate the breakdown of wastes.

Electric can be costly to acquire but depending on your preference may offer best results in terms of overall duration taken.

Balancing of the four elements

As I had earlier mentioned the levels of oxygen, heat, moisture and aerobic bacteria have to balance. It is the most significant of not only the duration but also the end dry compost product.

If any of these elements do not balance accordingly, the chances are high that it will take comparatively long time.

Also, the composted manure at the end of it will not necessarily be nutrient-laden for the gardening or even soil enhancement.

Design of the toilet

The model also affects the duration that wastes can be decomposed. This, however, narrows down to the particular manufacturer.

Some design their units to suit long-term decomposition process. The reason for this is that not everyone is necessarily interested in undertaking the monitoring and extraction processes on a routine basis.

But if you’re perhaps into camping or just any kind of outdoor activity, the ideal choice you’ll need is one that requires short-term decomposition process. Given that you will not permanently stay there for long.

But when all factors considered, it takes approximately 60-180 days to have an excellent, nutrient-laden dry compost out of human waste using a composting toilet.

What Makes the Composting Toilet Eco-Friendly?

Understandably, the wastes from this particular type of toilet are not typically disposed of merely as wastes, which could potentially degrade the environment.

Instead, they are disposed of a decomposed component, rich in various elements that are ideal for the soil, mainly used for gardening.

In that regard, it means that no water is wasted in disposing of the human waste. We all know that toilet can use a large volume of water and if everyone has to use it in flushing the waste then it can be disastrous to the environment.

The conventional sewer lines use chemicals as a way of recycling and preserving the content. The compounds, in the long run, hurt the environment and humanity in one way of the other.

What happens with bio-toilets is that they hardly use chemical substances. It thus makes them eco-friendly and harmless to the humanity too.

Whether or not to use compost toilet by-product in farming is highly dependent on where you reside. Primarily, in some cities, the use of dry compost humanure is prohibited.

It, therefore, means that you need to find out from the relevant authorities within your municipality to determine if it is permitted to use.

The bottom line, however, is that you need composting toilets are the better alternative if you are living off-grid, travel for outdoor activities often and most importantly, environmentally conscious.

The post How Does a Compost Toilet Work? Understanding All Its The Aspects appeared first on Bio Toilet.

The Bio-digester is total maintenance-free system, which does not require any sewage system. The inoculums bacteria used in these bio-digester procreate & generate new bacteria in an anaerobic environment & does not require repeat dosing.

Pronto Bio-Toilet technology is based on anaerobic biodegradation of organic waste by unique microbial consortium and works at a wide temperature range. The bacterial consortium degrades night soil at temp as low as -20 degree C and produces colorless, odorless and inflammable gas containing 50 – 70% methane.

This bacterial consortium has been made through acclimatization, enrichment and bio-augmentation of cold-active bacteria collected from Antarctica and the other low temperature areas.

How does bio-digester work?

Bio-digesters have 3 anaerobic chambers that treat Human wastes effectively, and don’t require any cleaning or emptying the tank because of its unique systematic structural arrangements.

To start with the very first chamber, where in, the Human wastes arrive from the toilet’s outlet, consequently the solids drop to the bottom of the tank because of the systematic structure of the bio-digester tank and the high graded pre residing bacteria (i.e. anaerobic bacteria, which can survive in the absence of oxygen) rushes for their job (i.e. eating away organic waste and decomposing entire occurring pathogens).

When this chamber is filled, the water overflows to the second chamber where more of the same happens, except at this time most of the biological/solid/sludged matter has been left in the first chamber. When the water overflows into the third chamber, it is almost 90% clean and hence the final stage of digestion takes place.

The treatment, the task of cleansing water is continuously carried forward from the start to the end point, till the water exits the bio-digester. When the treated water finally comes out from the bio-digester and into our irrigation pipelines (optional if required), it is 98% clean and free from entire pathogens.

This water is now safe to be used for underground irrigation via pipes buried below the surface. However, the treated water should not be used for human or animal consumption, or for household cleaning without going through additional treatment.

What are Advantages of bio toilet?

• It digests organic solids in an ecological way.
• It prevents human waste and untreated water from contaminating groundwater.
• It offers an alternative to dumping of wastes into rivers, lakes and fields in rural and semi-rural areas where there are no sewage systems.
• The effluent (i.e. the water) can be used to water plants.
• The effluent is cleaner, more effective and easier to use than a septic tank because it doesn’t need to be further cleaned or emptied.
• The effluent is odorless, non obnoxious, colorless as compared to the end products of the toilets being used these days.
• It doesn’t require the work and energy involved in relocating composting toilets every year.
• Is colorless, odorless and devoid of any solid particles
• Requires no further treatment / waste management
• Can be used for irrigation purposes

The residual biogas:

• Pre-fabricated shelter: Toilet structure built above the ground
• Bio-Digester tank: Installed below the ground
  Bio Toilet Variants: Bio Toilets are available in Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) or Mild Steel
• Stationary Toilet (ST) Series: Customized configuration available
• Mobile Toilet (MT) Series: Cluster of toilet cabins (up to 10 cabins), as per requirement, is mounted on Trailer
• Each mobile toilet has a 1,000 litre Syntex Water Tank mounted on the trailer to supply water to all the cabins

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