To address the inability of conventional toilets in cold regions to operate in winter due to freezing, as well as the difficulty of achieving reliable, continuous, stable, and harmless treatment of feces on site, a multi-functional zero-energy ecological toilet system is developed. The proposed system integrates solar energy collection, power generation, and constant-temperature anaerobic digestion for waste sanitization. Its operational performance is experimentally investigated and comparatively analyzed under three representative weather conditions: sunny, cloudy, and overcast. The results show that the electricity generation under sunny, cloudy, and overcast is 0.9, 0.7, and 0.3 kW·h, respectively, with corresponding photovoltaic conversion efficiencies of 10.9%, 11.2%, and 11.1%. The cumulative power consumption of the system is 1.85 kW·h. Under three working conditions, the effective heat gains of the solar vacuum tube collector are 5.6, 4.6, and 1.8 kW·h, with heat collection efficiency of 50.8%, 54.1%, and 46.2%, respectively. The average temperature of anaerobic fermentation digestion bag is 26.1, 26, and 25.5 ℃, while the average temperature of toilet room is 16.7, 15.9, and 14.6 ℃, respectively. Moreover, the system is estimated to save 1807 kg of standard coal annually, with an investment payback period of 7.6 years. These results indicate that the constructed zero-energy ecological toilet system is suitable for cold areas and can provide a new way for toilet renovation in cold and dry areas.
LI Jin-ping
,
LI Xu-dong
,
ZHAO hong
,
NOVAKOVIC Vojislav
. Experimental study on the performance of zero-energy ecological toilet system[J]. Journal of Lanzhou University of Technology, 2026
, 52(4)
: 33
-41
.
DOI: 10.13295/j.cnki.issn1673-5196.2026.04.004
[1] Hoffmann M R.Development of a self-contained,PV-powered domestic toilet and wastewater treatment system[J].Electrochemical Society Meeting Abstracts,2013,2(4):2294-2295.
[2] Stokes C D,Baldasaro N G,Bulman G E,et al.Thermoelectric energy harvesting for a solid waste processing toilet[C]//Energy Harvesting and Storage: Materials,Devices,and Applications V.Bellingham,Washington:SPIE-International Society Optical Engineering,2015:91150G.
[3] Gundlach J,Bryla M,Larsen T A,et al.Novel NoMix toilet concept for efficient separation of urine and feces and its design optimization using computational fluid mechanics[J].Journal of Building Engineering,2021,33:101500.
[4] Afolabi O O D,Sohail M,Thomas C P L.Microwave hydrothermal carbonization of human biowastes[J].Waste and Biomass Valorization,2014,6(2):147-157.
[5] 孙成军.小型户用污水处理设备在寒冷及严寒地区农村厕所改造中的应用研究[D].泰安:山东农业大学,2019:24-25.
[6] Kong D L,Yuan C B,Cao M J,et al.An ecological toilet system incorporated with a hydrothermal liquefaction process[J].Sustainability,2023,15(8): 6373.
[7] 张美雁,翟洪远,张司本.装配式低能耗水冲厕所在新农村建设中的应用[J].低温建筑技术,2019,41(2): 119-121.
[8] Liu G C,Xiao X,Qi H Y,et al.FPGA-based thermal control system of reaction chamber of photovolatic powerd Eco-toilet[C]//The 8th IEEE International Symposium on Next-Generation Electronics.New York:IEEE,2019:1-3.
[9] 沈佳悦.太阳能加热的三级恒温沼气生产系统运行策略优化研究[D].兰州:兰州理工大学,2012.20-22
[10] 冯荣.多因素耦合对户用热电气联供系统的影响机理研究[D].兰州:兰州理工大学,2016:33-34.
[11] 李金平,董玉慧,李彩军,等.寒冷地区空气源热泵辅助太阳能热水器供暖性能[J].上海交通大学学报,2023,57(7):910-920.
[12] Li J P,Niu M Y,Liu X M,et al.Experiment study on heat transfer enhancement of micro heat pipe PV/T by Reynolds number improvement[J].Energy,2023,282:128860.
[13] 张百良.农村能源技术经济及管理[M].北京:中国农业出版社,1995:29-31.
[14] Li J P,Qu C F,Li C J,et al.Technical and economic performance analysis of large flat plate solar collector coupled air source heat pump heating system[J].Energy and Buildings,2022,277:112564.
