page_title: Omni Processor
section_title: Duke University and 374Water
hierarchical_section_title: Omni Processor / Examples / Duke University and 374Water
caption_attribution_description: English: Pilot scale omniprocessor for fecal sludge treatment in a container at Duke University, USA
context_page_description: Omni Processor is a term coined in 2012 by staff of the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene Program of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to describe a range of physical, biological or chemical treatments to remove pathogens from human-generated fecal sludge, while simultaneously creating commercially valuable byproducts. An Omni Processor mitigates unsafe methods in developing countries of capturing and treating human waste, which annually result in the spread of disease and the deaths of more than 1.5 million children.
  Rather than a trademark, or a reference to a specific technology, the term Omni Processer is a general term for a range of self-sustaining, independently developed systems designed with the same end in mind, to transform and extract value from human waste — using various technological approaches, including combustion, supercritical water oxidation and pyrolysis.
  In the term, Omni refers to the ability of an Omni Processor to treat a wide variety of waste streams or fuel sources.
context_section_description: Scientists at Duke University in the U.S. have developed and are testing a pilot fecal sludge treatment unit that fits in a 20-foot shipping container and treats the fecal matter of roughly 1000 people using a new supercritical water oxidation (SCWO) process. The SCWO technology can covert any type of organic waste (fecal, food waste, paper, plastic, etc.) to energy and clean water. 
  The waste (sludge) is reacted with air at temperatures and pressures above the critical point of water (374ᵒC, 221 Bar) to convert all of the organics into clean water and CO₂ in seconds. Byproducts include distilled water, clean water which contains suspended inorganic minerals that can be utilized as fertilizers. The unit generates more than 900 liters of water for each ton of processed waste and the water can be processed further to drinking water. 
  The continuous process utilizes the energy embedded in the waste, thus enabling operating off-the-grid. 374Water is a Duke University spin-off company aiming to commercialize the SCWO technology.
caption: Pilot Omni Processor for fecal sludge treatment by supercritical oxidation at Duke University, U.S.
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