Utilization of Electrochemistry for Extracting Energy and Drinking Water from Human Urine

Abstract

Human urine is composed of mainly water (~95%) along with urea (~2%) as a major component. This makes it an important material as a source of water and chemicals to be extracted for various applications. The technique of water and chemicals extraction from human urine is a well-researched and established technique that already employs various principles and methods. It currently employs several established techniques such as nano filtration, membrane distillation, reverse osmosis and forward osmosis. These currently established techniques majorly utilized the pressure for extraction of water and chemicals. As an alternative approach, an electrochemical treatment method is proposed in which the human urine is subjected to electrolysis at favorable potential conditions. The applied potentiometric conditions would result in generation of hydrogen and oxygen at the cathode and anodes respectively depending on the applied potential values and voltage distribution across the electrodes. The generated hydrogen and oxygen could be utilized in fuel cell for generation of energy as well as drinking water.