The Omniprocessor converts human waste to water and energy. The process is actually relatively simple: "sludge" is brought up to the contraption through a conveyor belt and put through a tube where all the water is evaporated via boiling and the solid matter is dumped as ash. Some of water vapor can be pressured into steam, which travels through tubes and into a steam engine to generate electricity not only for the machine itself (so that it's self-sufficient) but for the community as well. The remaining water is purified in filtration systems and completely safe to drink, even though only five minutes earlier it had been in feces!
Backed by the Gates Foundation, this machine will certainly not run into trouble with funding. It costs around $1.5 million, and according to senior program officer of the Gates Foundation's Water and Sanitation Division, Doulaye Koné, plans have already been made to meet with Senegal in February or March to iintroducethis machine to the public. If this project can take off, it would be a big step forward in the goal to provide the whole world with clean water and electricity.
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