Incinerating toilet


An incinerating toilet is a type of dry toilet that burns human feces instead of flushing them away with water, as does a flush toilet.
Incinerating toilets are used only for niche applications, which include:
Incinerating toilets may be powered by electricity, gas, dried feces or other energy sources. Incinerating toilets gather excrement in an integral ashpan and then incinerate it, reducing it to pathogen-free ash. Some will also incinerate "grey water" created from showers and sinks.

Research

In 2011 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" to promote safer, more effective ways to treat human excreta. Several research teams have received funding to work on developing toilets based on solid waste combustion. For example, a toilet under development by RTI International is based on electrochemical disinfection and solid waste combustion. This technology converts feces into burnable pieces and then uses thermoelectric devices to convert the thermal energy into electrical energy.