Sanisolve (SQWATT) – India, China, LA

Sanisolver (aka SQWATT) was a startup company that aimed to alleviate the open defecation crisis affecting India, China, and Africa. We developed a Waterless Toilet and Two-Stage Anaerobic Digestion System as a product based solution.

• First Trip To India – Spring Break 2017

Using funds raised by our successful kickstart campaign, SQWATT had partnered with CURE – a non-profit development organization- and under their guidance, we met with multiple slum settlements to gather opinions from the local community about our first generation waterless toilet.

• 2CD Generation Toilet Prototype - 2017

SQWATT secured a partnership with a company in China to help develop and manufacture an injection mold for our waterless toilet. After an intensive redesign based on consumer needs and functional requirements, we printed our second-generation toilet as seen in the image here.

• 3RD Generation Toilet Prototype - 2018

With manufacturing on the near horizon, the toilet design was optimized to be easily assembled and disassembled for efficient post-manufacturing applications of super-hydrophobic coating as well as easy maintenance.

• Two-Stage Anaerobic digestion research prototype - 2018

During the Spring Semester of 2018, we had a successful proof of concept for biogas production using our two-stage anaerobic digestion system. We confirmed our system only required a 17-day hydraulic retention time (HRT), which was significantly lower than the 60-day HRT required by conventional single-stage digestion systems. This also allowed us to dramatically reduce the size requirement of the tanks needed to support a family of eight, which made it possible for our unit to fit inside the limited space found in slum housing.

• Prototype Pilot Test in New Delhi, India - 2018

In our most recent trip to India, we constructed a prototype based on our research model. We constructed this digester on the roof of a CURE outpost office in a local slum. This prototype was tested with cow-dung to further analyze total pathogen destruction time requirements of our system.