Recycling : Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

This research study explores the potential for producing electricity from discharged urine in the daily operation of highrise residential buildings. The majority of the population in metropolitan cities lives in high-rise residential buildings. High-rise buildings consume large amounts of energy in daily operation and release considerable amounts of waste including human urine into the environment. Untreated urine contains polluting organic compounds and requires energy-consuming treatment prior to discharge into waterways. Hydrogen, which is a clean source of energy is considered by scientists as a promising fuel for future. Hydrogen and urea are produced in electrolysis of urine. The generated hydrogen gas can be utilized to generate electricity for building operations. Ohio University in the USA has developed Ammonia GreenBox®, which can extract hydrogen gas directly from urine by electrochemical oxidation using an economical catalyst. Electricity is produced from the electrolysis of hydrogen gas in a hydrogen fuel cell. The simple and convenient hydrogen extraction process is suitable to be applied in high-rise developments. Production of electricity from urine can reduce power supply from the grid system and subsequently reduce building management cost.