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The Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), a wing of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which developed an environment friendly toilet technology called bio-digester, now installed in India...

An Overview of Bio-Digesters / Bio Toilets

Traditional methods of burying human waste or incineration and chemical treatment are not possible in glaciers. Biological treatment is an attractive approach for solving the problem but micro-organisms that decompose the waste in normal temperatures are inactive at freezing temperatures.

Technology Developed by Defence Research & Development Establishment, Ministry of Defence.

The key to DRDE's bio-toilet technology is a consortium of anaerobic bacteria --organisms which do not require oxygen to live and multiply - that has been formulated and adopted to work at temperatures as low as five degrees Celsius, the scientists said.

The bacterial consortium acts as inoculum (seed material) to the biodigester converting the organic waste into methane and carbon dioxide. The biodigester buried below the ground serves as a reaction vessel whose temperature is maintained between 5 and 30 degrees Celsius by solar heating. Charging of the biodigester with the bacterial inoculum is done only once during the entire life of bio-toilet.

Technology allows the human waste to be disposed of in an eco-friendly manner in places with extremely low temperatures. The process results in treated effluent free from pathogens, and biogas (methane) is generated as a byproduct, which can be used for cooking and room heating.

According to scientists, the biodigester developed by DRDE is suitable for below zero temperatures of the Himalayan region and is maintenance free. Around 90 DRDE bio-toilets have been installed at 24 locations,