Urine powered fuel cells are set to light up refugee camps

The prototype toilet is the result of a partnership between researchers at the West of England (UWE Bristol) and Oxfam. It is hoped the urine-power technology will light cubicles in refugee camps, which are often dark and dangerous places particularly for women.

Students and staff are being asked to use the urinal, which is located near the Student Union bar, to donate urine to fuel microbial fuel cell (MFC) stacks that generate electricity to power indoor lighting.

The research team is led by Prof Ioannis Ieropoulos , director of the Bristol BioEnergy Centre located in the Bristol Robotics Laboratory at UWE Bristol.

In a statement Prof Ieropoulos said: ‘The microbial fuel cells work by employing live microbes which feed on urine [fuel] for their own growth and maintenance.

‘The MFC is in effect a system which taps a portion of that biochemical energy used for microbial growth, and converts that directly into electricity - what we are calling urine-tricity or pee power. This technology is about as green as it gets, as we do not need to utilise fossil fuels and we are effectively using a waste product that will be in plentiful supply.’