Scientists transform pee into a golden opportunity

Most of america don’t deliberation excessively overmuch astir what’s successful our pee. We go, we flush, we forget. But that wastes a aureate opportunity, immoderate scientists say. They’re uncovering caller — and rather invaluable — uses for the chemicals successful urine.

A caller survey shows that immoderate yeast tin turn ingredients from urine into hydroxyapatite (Hy-DROX-ee-AP-eh-tyte). This calcium-based mineral makes bony hard.

Surgeons and dentists sometimes usage it to repair bones and teeth. It besides could assistance marque sturdy gathering materials. And it’s worthy much than past pee-based products.

“We’re taking a discarded merchandise and turning it into thing high-value,” says Jeremy Guest.

He hopes his team’s findings whitethorn animate cities to “manage discarded successful a caller way.” Guest is an biology technologist astatine the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. His squad shared its caller enactment May 6 successful Nature Communications.

Today’s wastewater attraction plants dainty pee arsenic a occupation alternatively than a perchance invaluable resource. Create image/Moment/Getty Images

Turning tinkle into treasure

Cities contiguous presumption pee arsenic simply a occupation to beryllium solved. Sewage-treatment plants filter germs from h2o to halt the dispersed of disease. This cleaning besides strips retired elements successful pee that could harm the environment. Nitrogen is 1 specified contaminant. So is phosphorus. 

But those elements aren’t needfully bad, says Treavor Boyer. Most “contaminants are conscionable chemicals successful the incorrect spot astatine the incorrect time.” Boyer is an biology technologist astatine Arizona State University successful Tempe. He did not instrumentality portion successful the caller research. But helium does survey however we mightiness retrieve resources from wastewater.

The nitrogen and phosphorus from urine can beryllium utilized to marque fertilizer, Boyer says. Urine’s breakdown besides produces ammonia and urea. Many companies usage these chemicals to marque their products.

Changing however nine views urine won’t beryllium easy, though. Fertilizer, for instance, is not precise costly. It’s hard to get nutrients from wastewater “and person the merchantability of the nutrient products [repay the costs of doing that],” explains Guest.

That’s wherefore his squad turned to hydroxyapatite. It’s made from the aforesaid worldly arsenic fertilizer, but sells for more. That mightiness motivate cities to revamp their h2o processing to harvest the mineral.

Tiny hydroxyapatite factories

Inspiration struck erstwhile a idiosyncratic successful Peter Ercius’ laboratory noticed thing strange. Ercius works astatine the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) successful California. There, helium looks astatine however materials alteration successful liquids, specified arsenic wrong surviving cells. To bash that, helium uses an electron microscope.

Read Entire Article