Poor sanitation, the spread of bacteria, and waste management can quickly become fatal problems in areas of conflict which involve displacing civilians or deploying soldiers. Hygienically treating human waste is essential in refugee camps, but also in more commercial or leisure situations such as trade fairs, festivals and on camp sites. A mobile organic waste purification unit developed by EUREKA project E! 3105 HYGICLAIR C100 can effectively treat human waste in recreational or crisis situation involving a large displacement of people. The first order of units is expected to be supplied to the French army around the beginning of 2008.
The system developed by the Austrian and French partners can cater for populations of 100 to 1800 people and be left in place for weeks or months. It uses biological processes to remove contaminants from human waste. The purpose is to produce a generally homogeneous treated effluent and a solid waste or sludge which are both suitable for discharge or reuse back into the environment.
Each unit is based in a portable standard 20ft container which can be quickly loaded and mobilised by truck, plane or ship. Effluent and waste from chemical toilets is pumped through a series of tanks which sort, treat and aerobic stabilise the waste, reproducing in miniature the larger systems that are used in cities. Connected in parallel, they can cater for an overall population of 1800. The containers have a low energy consumption of 35 kWh of energy per day and can also be configured for remote monitoring. Run almost automatically, the system needs about an hour of simple maintenance each week.
The project took the French company Sanitec SAS and two Austrian firms, Oko and Aim (Allegmeine Industrie-Montagen) 24 months to complete, and finished in September 2006. "Because of its mobility and its modularity, the system can be used for gatherings in isolated places" says Jean-Louis Faverot, member of the Conseil de Surveillance for French project partner Sanitec SAS. "It can equally be used for the specific treatment of effluents in isolated zones such as for the breeding of animals."
"Without EUREKA, neither our Austrian partner, nor Sanitec, could have researched and produced the prototype or carried out the tests which had to be undertaken," stresses Faverot.
More information: Bernard Bolze and Jean-Louis Faverot
Sanitec SAS
7131 (Cedex 02) Avenue du Danemark 24
37071 Tours
France
Tel +33 2 47 51 86 52
Fax +33 2 47 51 50 09
E-mail: b.bolze@sanitec.fr, JL.FAVEROT@wanadoo.fr
www.sanitec.fr