The jet incinerator toilet system in the SeaPod will be used to safely dispose of toxic solid waste by burning it until we are left with just a small bit of non-toxic ash.
One of the important things to consider in a floating structure is efficiency. This means that keeping a pilot light burning in the incinerator would burn propane that we don’t want to waste. Using electricity to burn the waste would be very energy-intensive and waste too much electricity.
Burning propane or another kind of fuel is the most efficient way to get a sufficiently hot flame that can complete the incineration, but we need a way to automatically light the flame. The process will be automatic and the home automation system will decide when to start the incineration process based on weight.
Since this process is automatic and we didn’t want to leave a pilot light burning, we came up with a system to use motorized valves to open and close the proper gas lines to supply the burners with fuel. The ignitor will create a spark similar to how a propane BBQ grill uses an electric starter. The spark ignites the propane and then you are good to go.
We experimented with a few different frequencies for the spark and we found that a higher spark frequency worked better for getting our burners ignited. We have put a ton of work into the design of the incinerator toilet.
It has taken a bit of trial and error and a lot of experimentation but the result will be a system that is able to incinerate poop and separate the liquids all while not changing the way that we normally use our toilets.
