South Korean professor develops toilet that turns poop into power and cryptocurrency

July 13, 2021

Cho Jae-weon, a South Korean urban and environmental engineering professor at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), developed an eco-friendly toilet that pays students cryptocurrency and turns feces into fuel.

The invention: The BeeVi toilet uses a vacuum pump that sends feces into an underground tank where microorganisms break down the waste and turn it into methane, according to Reuters.

The gas produced by the system would later become an energy source for the building that could power a “gas stove, hot-water boiler and solid oxide fuel cell.”
Cho explained that a person, on average, defecates around 500 grams a day. This amount can then be converted to 50 liters of methane gas, which could generate 0.5 kilowatts per hour of electricity or drive a vehicle for 1.2 kilometers (0.75 miles), according to Hypebeast.

Turning waste into money: Students who use the BeeVi toilet can receive 10 Ggool (honey in Korean) cryptocurrency per day.

It can be used to purchase coffee, instant cup noodles, fruits and books on campus.
“If we think out of the box, feces has precious value to make energy and manure,” Cho said. “I have put this value into ecological circulation.”

Featured Image via Reuters

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