Jan Spit from WASTE presented the research findings on faecal sludge treatment during the Faecal Sludge Management Lunch Meeting in The Hague, The Netherlands, on 17 April 2014. This meeting was organised by IRC with support from DGIS.

1. Research Faecal Sludge Treatment

2. Background
Gap Analysis in Emergency Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion
(HIF 2013)
1. Latrines in locations where no pits are possible
(urban, high watertable/flooding)
2. Latrine emptying and desludging
3. Faecal sludge disposal options after desludging
and treatment !!MOST CHALLENGING GAP!!
4. Urban alternatives for excreta disposal

3. Problem
• Lack of space for treatment (urban area)
• High water table (no digging possible)
• No off site treatment/disposal site, no skilled
labour
• Security
• Faecal sludge source of disease (Cholera Haiti)
• Raised latrine full after 1 week

4. Objective
• Sanitization Faecal Sludge
• Simple & rapid & easy to
put in place
• Easy to operate & maintain
& reliable
• Demonstrate feasibility at
scale and document the
whole process
• Process to be incorporated
in the Oxfam and/or IFRC
catalogue
• From Speed to Seed

5. Field testing Malawi
• 5 Students from Unesco-
IHE & TUD
• 3 Treatment Methods for
Centralised Treatment :
– Lime, Ammonia, Lactic
Acid
• 3 Decentralised
Treatment (SEED)- on-
going research:
– Worm Toilet, Terra Preta
Toilet, Anaerobic Digester

6. Emergency Faecal Sludge Treatment Methods:
Preliminary Field Testing Results
Treatment
• Treatment Time
• Final Concentration of
E-coli, Salmonella and
Faecal Coliform
• pH
• Quantities of
Chemical Addition for
Treatment
Ammonia
• 4-8 days
• <1000 cfu/ 100ml
• pH 9
• 2% Urea w/w (20g
urea/kg Sludge =9g
TAN/kg Sludge)
Lime
• 2 hours
• <1000 CFU/ 100ml
• pH 11
• 12-16g Lime per kg
Sludge ( The buffer
capacity varied
considerably between
sludges)
Lactic Acid
• 7-9 days
• <1000 cfu/ 100ml
• pH 4
• 20-30 g/L Lactic acid
concentration (using
10%w/w preculture, 2g
simple sugar/kg sludge)

7. Lactic Acid Experiments
• 3 Log removal for E-coli
7-9 days
• 10% w/w milk
preculture, 10% w/w
molasses ( 2kg simple
sugar/1000kg sludge)
• 20-30g/L lactic acid
• pH: 3.8-4.2
• Next Phase –
knowledge applied to
Terra Preta Toilet

8. UREA EXPERIMENTS
• 3 Log removal 4-8 days
after addition of urea
• 2% Urea observed to be
the most effective
• pH 9 – 9.5
• Reactors must be sealed
• High temperature can
enhance treatment
• Next Phase – upscale to
Bladder

9. LIME EXPERIMENTS - MALAWI
• 50L Drum Experiments
• pH Control - Addition of
Hydrated Lime ( CaOH)
& 10’ mixing
• > pH 10.2 to <1000
CFU/100ml within 1
hour
• No distinct reduction in
COD and TS or VS within
• Further research 
Control
pH 7
pH 9 pH 10 pH 11 pH 12
1.00E+00
1.00E+01
1.00E+02
1.00E+03
1.00E+04
1.00E+05
1.00E+06
1.00E+07
0 2 4 6
E-coliConcentration(CFU/100ml)
Time elapsed since Lime addition (hours)
E-coli Removal
Control (
no mix)
Control (
mixing
pH 9
pH 10,2
pH 11
pH 12

10. Future Work
Additional Research is essential to ensure that
a robust method which safeguards public
health can be established for faecal sludge
treatment in an emergency context
(De) Centralized:
• Lime Treatment
• Urea Treatment
On site:
• Self-mixing Anaerobic
Digester
• Worm Toilet
• Terra Preta Sanitation Toilet

11. Future work
(De-) centralized treatment:
• Upscale options, test robustness of process on different
sludge types & in different settings
• Investigate sanitization, stabilization, costs
• Devise the process conditions required for Faecal
Sludge Treatment to achieve the WHO guideline
sanitation requirements.
On-site systems:
• Compare and contrast each of the on-site sanitation
systems
• Investigate the functionality of the on-site sanitation
systems
• Investigate sanitization, stabilization, costs, useful
byproducts

12. Thank you for your input!
www.emergencysanitationproject.org
www.speedkits.eu
emergencysanitation@waste.nl