Patent ID: 7790044

Claim:
A method for separating oils and minerals from pretreated feces comprising: a. receiving pretreated feces including viscous liquids, oils, and minerals, b. mixing said pretreated feces with an acid-water solution, c. separating at least a portion of said minerals and oils of step b to yield a first portion containing an oil/acid-water solution with some remaining minerals, and a second portion containing minerals with some residual acid-water solution, d. treating said second portion with a caustic solution to neutralize residual acid and separating water from said second portion to yield a third mineral portion, followed by transferring said oil/acid-water solution from step c to a first coalescer to separate said oil from said acid-water solution, e. evaporating or distilling said acid-water solution from step d to yield mineral salts, f. mixing said oil and a residual acid-water solution separated in step d with a caustic solution to yield an oil/neutral-water solution, g. transferring said oil/neutral-water solution of step f to a second coalescer to separate said oil from said neutral-water solution, h. evaporating or distilling said neutral-water solution of step g to yield mineral salts, i. transferring said oil and a residual neutral-water solution of step g to a third coalescer to separate said oil from said residual neutral-water solution, and j. drying said oil of step i to remove any remaining water in said oil.