Portable composting toilet system

Abstract

A portable composting toilet system has a compartmentalized receptacle for receiving human waste, a gray-water circulation subsystem for circulating gray water formed by mixing water with waste through the compartmentalized receptacle to promote mixing of the waste to thereby accelerate digestion of the waste, and an air-circulation subsystem for emitting air bubbles into a sludge formed at a bottom of the compartmentalized receptacle to break up the sludge to thereby accelerate digestion of the waste. The air circulation subsystem can include an air-driven pump that causes the gray water to circulate while allowing feeding pressurized air to diffuser loops in each compartment to create sludge-breaking bubbles. This portable composting toilet system so efficiently decomposes waste that the maintenance costs of hauling residual sludge to the surface (when the toilet is used underground in a mine) is significantly lower than for conventional toilets, thus providing substantial cost savings to mine operators.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates in general to toilets and, more particularly, to portable composting toilets.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Portable outhouses, such as those commonly used at construction sites and in underground mines, hold only a limited amount of water and thus must be emptied frequently. In the context of an underground mine, odor and waste disposal pose serious problems. Hauling waste to the surface for disposal is both expensive and time-consuming.[0003]Portable composting toilets utilize a holding tank to store and process human waste. (“Composting” means the microbial decomposition of organic matter.) Typically, these portable composting toilets use a chemical or biological digester to accelerate the biological decomposition of the human waste in order to reduce both the amount of sludge that has to be hauled to the surface and the frequency with which the toilet has to be emptied.[0004]However, current composting toilets suffer from a nu...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]In general, a portable composting toilet has a compartmentalized receptacle for receiving and circulating human waste mixed with water and a biological digesting product to accelerate bio-degradation (composting) of the waste. The portable composting toilet receives human waste into one portion of its compartmentalized receptacle, mixes the waste with water to form gray water while the sludge settles to the bottom of the receptacle. The portable composting toilet uses a gray water-circulation subsystem to circulate the gray water (containing waste or partially dissolved waste) to continually turn and circulate the gray water and waste, thus greatly expediting the composting of the human waste. The portable composting toilet also utilizes an air-circulation subsystem that not only drives the water-circulation subsystem but also emits air bubbles from diffuser loops in each compartment of the compartmentalized receptacle in order to break up the sludge that collects at the bottom of the compartments of the compartmentalized receptacle, thereby further expediting the bio-degradation of the human waste. Accordingly, the frequency with which the portable composting toilet requires emptying and the total mass of composted waste that has to be hauled to the surface (when used underground in a mine) is substantially reduced, resulting in substantial cost savings for the mining company.

[0008]In other words, the present invention entails a portable composting toilet system for receiving and processing human waste. The toilet system comprises a housing having an opening disposed above a compartmentalized receptacle for receiving human waste, the compartmentalized receptacle further receiving water and a digesting product to biologically digest the waste. The toilet system has a gray water circulation subsystem for circulating gray water formed by mixing water with waste through the compartmentalized receptacle to promote mixing of the waste to thereby accelerate digestion of the waste. The toilet system also has an air circulation subsystem for emitting air bubbles into a sludge formed at a bottom of the compartmentalized receptacle to break up the sludge to thereby accelerate digestion of the waste.

Problems solved by technology

In the context of an underground mine, odor and waste disposal pose serious problems.

Hauling waste to the surface for disposal is both expensive and time-consuming.

However, current composting toilets suffer from a number of shortcomings.

Furthermore, these portable outhouses are typically constructed of plastic which has a propensity to develop surface micro-cracks which become repositories for waste matter.

Using disinfectants to clean the toilet has the unfortunate side-effect of destroying or at least substantially diminishing the biological breakdown process.

Even attempting to cleanse these portable outhouses with water is problematic because water tends to dilute the bacterial digester, thus reducing the efficacy of the biological breakdown, and furthermore adds weight to the sludge that has to be periodically hauled to the surface.

Thus, cleaning of these portable composting toilets usually requires manual scrubbing with special cleaners, which is labor-intensive.

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