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Bowled Over by Toilet Technology

Super smart seats and community-conscious commodes aimed at huddled masses yearning to breathe free

Willie D. Jones

19 Nov 2013

Photo-Illustration: Eawag/EOOS

Photo: Eawag/EOOS

Inside the back wall of the Blue Diversion toilet from Eawag, ETH Zurich’s aquatic research institute, a compact water recovery system diverts water used for hand-washing and flushing to separate collection tanks. This segregation lets the system treat and safely reuse each water supply for the same function multiple times. Separate collection of feces and urine allows the solid waste to be treated to minimize odor and pathogens. Users can rotate the squatting pan 90 degrees to use it as a cleansing station.
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Photo: Ben Martin

For communities lacking any sewage infrastructure, researchers at Cranfield University, in England, came up with the Nano Membrane toilet. When the user turns a hand crank, a mechanical screw dumps both the liquid and solid waste onto a special nanomaterial that hastens evaporation. This dramatically reduces the amount of disease-causing pathogens and odor-causing volatile compounds. The water vapor, now free of salt and other elements in urine, is subsequently recaptured with the help of another nanomaterial. It then drains into a collection vessel for use in irrigation or as nonpotable water for household functions.
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Photo: Kohler

Kohler’s Numi toilet puts the “funk” into multifunctional. The commode doubles as a loudspeaker, playing music streamed from a Bluetooth gadget, loaded onto an SD card, jacked in via an auxiliary cable, or tuned in using a built-in FM radio. The toilet has sensors that tell it to open or close the cover; they also raise or lower the seat depending on the position of your feet, ending the anger and recriminations over someone splashing down into the water in the middle of the night. The Numi toilet has a self-cleaning bidet wand, a heated seat, and vents that blow soothing warm air on your feet.
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Photo: NTU

Made by Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, the No-Mix Vacuum toilet diverts urine, which is rich in nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, to a processing facility. There these elements are extracted for use in products such as fertilizer. The fecal matter goes to a bioreactor where it is digested and yields a biogas rich in methane. The methane can be used in stoves for cooking or in turbines for generating electricity. Because of its vacuum suction, the toilet needs only 0.2 liters of water to flush away liquids; getting rid of solids takes about a liter of water. Today’s toilets use up to 20 times as much water for each flush.
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Photo: Vivi

What about people who can’t replace their commodes but want some of the fancy functions available on today’s high-tech toilets? The Vivi Intelligent Toilet Seat will have them sitting pretty too. The temperature-adjustable seat comes with a bidet wand that, with the push of a few buttons, extends, sprays water or air at user selected temperatures, and retracts.
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Photo: Caltech

Researchers at Caltech won last year’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, receiving the US $100 000 grand prize from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Their entry was a solar-powered toilet and wastewater treatment system designed to prevent the thousands of fatalities caused by pathogens bred in open-air pits. Caltech’s demonstration unit features a Western toilet, a urinal, and a squat toilet. A solar panel generates enough electricity to power an electrochemical process that sanitizes the liquid and turns the solid waste into fertilizer.
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Photo: Kazuhiro Nogi/Getty Images

Having Daiwa House’s Intelligent Toilet is like having a physician’s assistant permanently stationed in your bathroom. It is equipped with sensors that check blood sugar, blood pressure, body temperature, and weight. A digital display not only delivers daily updates on all these vital statistics, but also provides information such as the calories in everyday meals and advice on proper diet and exercise.
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Photo: Toto

Toto’s Neorest 700H toilet is smart enough to sense your presence and automatically open the lid. The same sensors tell it to lower the lid and flush automatically when you step away. The unit comes with a remote control that lets the user manage features such as oscillating and pulsating bidet spray, seat temperature control, and a night-light. It’s also good for the environment. The toilet automatically mists the bowl with water electrolyzed so it contains a small concentration of sodium hypochlorite, the active ingredient in household bleach. This misting keeps the bowl cleaner and, along with vacuum suction, helps the toilet get rid of waste with less water.
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nanyang technological university icandy no-mix vacuum toilet eth zurich nanomembrane toilet daiwa house intelligent toilet ntu ben martin type:slideshow squatting pan bill and melinda gates foundation numi toilet caltech tools and toys

Willie D. Jones

Willie Jones is an associate editor at IEEE Spectrum. In addition to editing and planning daily coverage, he manages several of Spectrum's newsletters and contributes regularly to the monthly Big Picture section that appears in the print edition.

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