ELE-PEE-PHANT: THE URINE DRINKING ELEPHANT PORTABLE

CHARGING STATION
Review of Related Literature

Introduction:

With around one-seventh of the population lacking access to basic electricity

and a dwindling of the global supply of oil and coal, scientists are eager to find

solutions to power the world in more renewable and sustainable ways. As electric

power has become the lifeline in modern times, so has the quest of human beings to

find out ways to generate clean power from cheap and environment-friendly resources

(Verma, 2016).

Urine consists of approximately 98 per cent water and 2 per cent urea, which

is made up of carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen atoms. Human urine has been

turned into all sorts of things over the centuries, ranging from phosphorous to

gunpowder. It has also served as the basis of myriad chemical substances, including

the first types of plastics (Verma, 2016).

As pure hydrogen does not occur naturally, it takes a significant amount of

energy to manufacture it. There are different ways to produce it, such as electrolysis

and steam-methane reforming through water to separate the hydrogen and oxygen

atoms. This method can use wind, solar, geothermal, hydro, fossil fuels, biomass, and

many other resources. Once manufactured, hydrogen is an energy carrier (i.e. a store

for energy first generated by other means) (Jalamkar, Bankar, 2014).

Microbial fuel cells have real potential to produce renewable bioenergy out of

waste matter like urine. Considering the huge volume of urine we produce, if we

could harness its potential power using microbial fuel cells, we could revolutionize

the way we make electricity (Lorenzo, Chouler, 2016)

 ELE-PEE-PHANT: THE URINE DRINKING ELEPHANT PORTABLE
CHARGING STATION
Microbial fuel cells are devices that use the natural processes of certain

bacteria to turn organic matter into electricity. There are other ways of producing

bioenergy, including anaerobic digestion, fermentation and gasification. But microbial

fuel cells have the advantage of working at room temperature and pressure. They're

efficient, relatively cheap to run and produce less waste than the other methods

(Elsevier, 2016).

This chapter, Research Design and Methodology is broken down into 3 parts 1.)

Purpose of the Study and Research Design; (2.) Methods; and (3.) Data Analysis

Procedures.

Part two, methods shows the locations where the study was conducted, materials used,

and procedures followed.

Part three, Data Analysis Procedures presents how the data are to be gathered and

analysed and shows statistical tools to be used.

*Purpose of the Study and Research Design

This study aims to find an alternative source of electricity from human waste.