6 unexpected uses of urine
Did you know that urine can be used for energy in the future, help reduce climate change and have many other unexpected uses?
Urine is inherently considered as just a waste water and has no use in modern life. You may have heard stories about urine saving lives in the desert, but other than that, it has very few other practical applications. However, with the development of science and technology, urine can also become an unlimited source for many essential areas of society. Let's take a look at some unexpected uses of urine through the article below.
1. Urine-powered phone
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Nowadays, the number of smartphone users has increased sharply and one of the issues that users are very concerned about is the energy consumption of these smartphones. Recently, Dr. Ioannis Ieropoulos of Bristol Robotics Laboratory and his team have developed a method of charging batteries through urine. This method allows urine to run through micro fuel circuits (MFCs), converting urine into electricity and it can provide enough energy for the phone to send messages, browse the web or make calls.
The method is still being researched and can only produce a small amount of electricity, but scientists are still optimistic about its potential value. The Bill and Melissa Gates Foundation - the main funder of this project - hopes that with smartphones powered by "pee" we can expect a new direction for the world's smartphones.
2. Effective solutions in the water resources crisis
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To survive when lost in the desert, jungle or a place without water, your own urine is still the number one choice for survival. If anyone has ever watched the famous TV show of Bear Grylls, this story is not strange anymore. However, with the current water resource crisis, especially clean water, drinking... urine may be put into practical application in the near future.
With new technology that recycles urine more efficiently and cheaply, the US National Research Council claims that urine recycling could become a long-term solution to the current water crisis. Directly processing urine from our wastewater systems would be much faster with current technology. And scientists have also shown that urine-recycled water has advantages over clean water, with less risk of waterborne diseases. It can also help the body recover the phosphorus that is excreted in urine.
3. Anti-pollution solutions
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According to the United Nations Weather Forecasting Agency, the amount of CO2measured at the present time is at an all-time high. The amount of CO2in the atmosphere in 2012 was 393.1 ppm, 2.2 ppm more than in 2011. According to experts, this number is expected to reach about 400 ppm in 2016, far exceeding the allowable number of 350 ppm. CO2is the main factor in global warming, causing many changes on Earth.
Everyone is working together to solve this pollution problem and one of the effective solutions is using urine. Recently, scientists from Andalusia discovered that global warming can be prevented by a strange mixture of urine and olive wastewater. They found that this strange “cocktail” can absorb CO2when they come into contact with air. This mixture can be placed in the chimneys of factories, where CO emissions2usually pass through and contribute to reducing this gas in the atmosphere.
4. Research on climate change
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The rock rabbit is a rodent found quite commonly in Africa, also known as Pelele.The special thing about rock rabbits is that they usually only choose a certain place to urinate and their urine seeps deep into the ground and permeates many things such as pollen, dry leaves. Those things help scientists study the evolution of climate change over time.
Researchers from the University of Montpelier in France studied their dried urine layers and compared the results with modern hypotheses about past climate change.
They concluded that the results matched figures from climate change over the years, such as the way glaciers melted in Europe during the last ice ages and the way lakes formed after global warming…
5. Cars that run on urine
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Over the past decade, alternative energy cars have attracted a lot of attention around the world and for companies specializing in manufacturing cars, the issue of emissions has always been at the top of mind.
To solve this, Dr. Gerardine Botte of Ohio State University has invented an electrolysis method that can extract hydrogen from urine using less energy. With this technology, Dr. Botte hopes to make cars that run on hydrogen extracted through urine a reality. She explains that because hydrogen in urine is easier to separate than in water, this method saves a lot of energy used in the electrolysis process.
6. Rocket fuel
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Recently, a scientist from Radboud University, Netherlands has developed a unique method to turn urine into rocket fuel. Microbiologist Mike Jetten said that there is a type of bacteria that can survive and multiply in an oxygen-deprived environment, which can convert ammonia in urine into hydrazine, a rocket fuel.
It’s a truly amazing feat of nature. Bacteria have been known to do this for a long time, but the complex process involved in the conversion has only recently been discovered by Jetten and his team, opening up a future for bacterial applications. With millions of gallons of ammonia being produced daily in our bathrooms, scientists are hopeful that it will be possible to produce large quantities of rocket fuel from this seemingly limitless supply.
