Title: Transforming blackwater from multi-storey residential buildings: a sustainable and novel closed-loop approach to reusable water and biogas

Authors: Policherla Venkata Sai; K. Srinivas Reddy

Addresses: Heat Transfer and Thermal Power Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600-036, India ' Heat Transfer and Thermal Power Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600-036, India

Abstract: One of the most challenging issues in underdeveloped nations is the treatment of domestic blackwater. This study adopts environmentally conscious solar ETC powered MED technology to treat wastewater and biogas digester for handling human waste. This study proposes an integrated solution for a 100-family neighbourhood, processing 3,900 litres of wastewater and 160 kg of faeces each day. In April, the MED unit achieves a 49.25% recovery rate for 5 hours/day operation, yielding 13.22 tonnes of distillate annually. It also generates 1,875.37 kg methane and 55.27 tonnes of organic fertiliser each year. System performance is analysed using a MATLAB R2020a-based mathematical model.

Keywords: domestic waste; multi-effect distillation; MED; reusable water; biogas digester; fertiliser; decentralised unit.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2025.145088

International Journal of Global Warming, 2025 Vol.35 No.2/3/4, pp.128 - 141

Received: 25 May 2023
Accepted: 17 Sep 2023
Published online: 19 Mar 2025 *

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