Belgian scientists invent 'sewer to brewer' machine that transforms urine into a drinkable beverage

Belgium: A team of Researchers at Ghent University Belgium have created a machine that turns urine into drinkable water which can then be used to brew beer and fertilizer using solar energy. The team of researchers say the techniques be applied in rural areas and developing countries.

The technique applied at the University of Ghent uses a special membrane, and is said to be energy-efficient and can be applicable in areas that are off the electricity grid.

"We're able to recover fertilizer and drinking water from urine using just a simple process and solar energy," said University of Ghent researcher Sebastiaan Derese.

Urine is collected in a large tank, heated in a solar-powered boiler before passing through a membrane which separate the water and other nutrients such as potassium, phosphorous and nitrogen which can be used to make fertilizers.

The team recently install the device at a 10-day music and theater festival in central Ghent with the tag #peeforscience, where more than 1,000 liters of water from the urine of party goers were
recovered. The water recovered from the festival will now be used to make specialties beer.

"We call it from sewer to brewer," Derese said.

The researchers plans to install a larger version of the device in sports centres or airports to convert collected urine into water for longer term use.

Derese said added that take the device to rural community in the developing world where fertilisers and reliable drinking water are short in supply.