There is a strong need for transformative sanitation systems in the areas of the world where open defecation habits and/or inadequate sewage treatment methods and facilities exist. This paper describes an innovative thermally efficient solid waste treatment process as a basis for an off-the-grid, non-sewered toilet in order to address this need. Human feces are combusted in a continuous-cyclic manner using two stages of smoldering and catalytic oxidation. It has been shown that thermal coupling of the two stages creates a self-sustained reactor that can combust wet fecal material containing up to 3.2 parts water to 1 part dry matter – equivalent of water content in healthy human feces – without the need for external heating, known as the ultimate challenge in direct combustion of human feces. Furthermore, it has been shown that air flow rate can be reliably used as a controlling mechanism for fecal destruction rate which means the same reactor could be operated for various and varying input rates. The present work demonstrates the potential for manufacturing low-cost, low-energy consuming sanitation systems that are more easily accessible to communities in need of such systems.

在世界上存在公开排便习惯和/或污水处理方法和设施不足的地区，迫切需要改造性的卫生系统。本文介绍了一种创新的高效热固废物处理工艺，以此作为离网非下水道马桶的基础，从而满足了这一需求。使用闷烧和催化氧化两个阶段以连续循环方式燃烧人的粪便。研究表明，这两个阶段的热耦合产生了一个自持式反应器，该反应器可以燃烧含有最多3.2份水和1份干物质（相当于健康人类粪便中的水分）的湿粪便，而无需外部加热，被称为人类粪便直接燃烧的最终挑战。此外，已经表明，空气流速可以可靠地用作粪便破坏速率的控制机构，这意味着同一反应堆可以在各种不同的输入速率下运行。本工作证明了制造低成本，低能耗的卫生系统的潜力，这些社区更容易获得需要这种系统的社区。