From: henry@spsystems.net   
      
   In article ,   
   Paul F. Dietz  wrote:   
   >> One problem that arises is that some of the fluids you'd like to distill,   
   >> e.g. urine, don't take well to serious heating -- they tend to leave   
   >> deposits behind.   
   >   
   >The obvious answer there is to distill at reduced pressure.   
      
   Indeed so.   
      
   >Also, organic compounds could be oxidized before distillation (reaction   
   >with ozone, perhaps?)   
      
   Unfortunately, one of the reasons you might want to heat human wastes is   
   for the absolutely definitive oxidizing process:  SCWO, SuperCritical   
   Water Oxidation.  Feed most anything -- human waste, plastic, bodies :-),   
   whatever -- into an SCWO reactor, and out comes CO2, N2, H2O, and sterile   
   metal-oxide ash.  But it does mean getting the stuff hot, and the deposits   
   problem makes it difficult to recover the waste heat, so it's dreadfully   
   energy-intensive.   
   --   
   "Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend."    |   Henry Spencer   
                                   -- George Herbert       | henry@spsystems.net   
      
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