Re-Envisioning Sanitation As a Human-Derived Resource System

[NNadir]

5. When your most explored and favorite tool is a hammer, you try to make every problem as a nail.

I'm no exception, to be sure.

Hydrogen production and phosphorus recovery via supercritical water gasification of sewage sludge in a batch reactor (Weijin et al., Waste Management Volume 96, 1 August 2019, Pages 198-205)

Supercritical water gasification of sewage sludge: Gas production and phosphorus recovery (lNancy Y.Acelas Diana P.López, D.W.F. (Wim)Brilman, Sascha R.A.Kersten, A. Maarten J.Kootstra, Bioresource Technology Volume 174, December 2014, Pages 167-175)

I've actually given a lot of thought - surprising considering my limited view on things - to utilizing this approach for sewage sludge - which happily contains quite a bit of water, using oxyfuel combustion as opposed to nuclear heat, although nuclear heat would also work.

I saw this as an application, admittedly, for the oxygen generated from the nuclear heat driven thermochemical splitting of carbon dioxide or water.

Sewage sludge is currently utilized in many places as fertilizer, but as you correctly point out, urban sewage contains a lot more than phosphorous and salts, personal care products, metals, notably lead from waste lines and old solder, other heavy metals, excess copper, and pharmaceuticals and their metabolites. The role that sewage plays in the generation of antibiotic resistant bacteria is a very active area of investigation.