The BeeVi Eco-Friendly Toilet: An Innovation from a South Korean University Improving Student Life
Cho Jae-weon, a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Engineering at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), is the creator of BeeVi, a toilet that can convert waste into biogas and fertilizer.
To save water, BeeVi flushes waste into an underground storage tank. Here, microorganisms break down the waste, producing methane gas. This gas is then converted into energy that powers one of the buildings on campus.
Cho Jae-weon next to a waste tank in Ulsan. (Photo: Reuters).
Thanks to this invention, students in the building enjoy free electricity. Additionally, each time a student uses BeeVi, they earn an internal cryptocurrency unit called “Ggool,” which means “Honey.”
Students can use Ggool to purchase various items on campus, such as coffee, ramen noodles, or even books. Each user of BeeVi can earn 10 Ggool per day.
“If you think broadly, waste has value in generating energy and fertilizer. What I am doing is putting that value into circulation,” Mr. Cho explained.
500 grams of waste, the average amount produced by a person in a day, can generate 50 liters of methane gas. According to Mr. Cho, this amount of gas can produce approximately 0.5 kWh of electricity, enough to power an electric vehicle for 1.2 kilometers.
When all toilets on campus are replaced with BeeVi, the amount of clean energy generated will be significant.
“I no longer view waste as something dirty; now it is a treasure to me. I even talk about waste during meals when I think about the books I want,” stated Heo Hui-jin, a former UNIST student.
A few years ago, Cho introduced a study describing how he used organic waste and fuel generated by an earlier version of BeeVi to grow and cook barley sprouts.
Before BeeVi, there were several waterless and eco-friendly toilet designs developed. The most notable might be the Tiger Toilet. It looks like any other toilet but operates using a population of tiger worms underneath.
The Tiger Toilet does not require a conventional flush and is not connected to the sewage system. The worms are placed in a container below, where they consume the waste. The activity of these creatures produces a mixture of water, carbon dioxide, and a small amount of worm castings (less toxic and more nutrient-rich than human waste).
The residual byproduct of this process can create an excellent fertilizer composed of nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, and potassium, which is very beneficial for agriculture. Additionally, the Tiger Toilet does not attract flies or other harmful insects.
