1 Gallon per day

[KnightoftheRoc]

Any chance of a Ph test on the collected 'water'? A complete chemical analysis would be great, but I don't think anyone expects you to go THAT far with this. But, a simple Ph strip from a pool kit could tell you a lot.

[greenbeetle]

Any chance of a Ph test on the collected 'water'? A complete chemical analysis would be great, but I don't think anyone expects you to go THAT far with this. But, a simple Ph strip from a pool kit could tell you a lot.

No pools in my neighborhood. I might be able to swing by a pool store on the way home. Not sure I understand your concern though, shouldn't all the salts and waste be left at bottom of pot, unevaporated?


Edit: Ahhh I see, there's a possibility of ammonia evaporating and acidifying the condensation. Still, since first pass urine is consumable I would guess water trapped after single distillation of urine would be more so, despite the ammonia or other chemical issues. Double distillation or throwing out the first 1/3 of distilled water (like moonshiners do with the their initial runoff) would probably help.

Here's what NASA uses to recycle urine.

[greenbeetle]

Bad news pseudoscience fans. No condensation on inside of black plastic bag. Yes, it was air tight. internal temp says 112 on my laser thermometer so I'm a bit confused by this. Perhaps higher temps are needed for solute rich liquids.

Will attempt solar oven again tomorrow.

[greenbeetle]

Day 3.

Same routine. 1050 ml leftover.

[duodecima]

Bad news pseudoscience fans. No condensation on inside of black plastic bag. Yes, it was air tight. internal temp says 112 on my laser thermometer so I'm a bit confused by this. Perhaps higher temps are needed for solute rich liquids.

Will attempt solar oven again tomorrow.

112 C, I assume? Perhaps the black plastic wasn't cool enough to condense on? Tho that seems odd...

[AKFTW]

Interesting experiment! I too would personally skip the bathing and just use wipes, and drink more of the water.

[greenbeetle]

First, ammonia would increase the pH of the distilled urine as it is a base. Sorry, my confusion.

I put the pee (pH 6) in a sauce pan with a glass cup in the middle to collect the condensation and covered it with a black plastic bag that I sealed on with a rubber band around the top of the pan. I put a rock in the middle of the bag to draw the condensed droplets over the cup so they would be collected. Into my POS solar oven. Temp after 1 hour is 130 degrees. Final temp of the pot was 148 F at 4 hours.



After 4 hours I take a peak and no condensation can be found. Believing the black plastic bag is itself too hot to allow anything to condense on it I instead cover the sauce pan with clear plastic wrap and condensation appears instantly. This is a pic after 2 hours in the sun.


After 2 hours in the solar oven a total of about 10ml is collected. It is clear, smells faintly like urine and has a pH of 6.2


Also I put urine in a bottle and attached copper tubing I have leftover from making homebrewing equipment then propped the other en inside a collection bottle. Masking tape wrapped around the copper tube assures a tight fit. Into the fire.


The fire was too hot and bottle too full so the yellow stuff boiled up and all the way through the tubing. I had to start over after pouring some out and cleaning out the tubing. Collected clear runoff as in a glass as below. I poured out first 10 ml or so and collected the rest. pH is 8. Smells like slightly like urine.



I didn't drink either sample. There's some youtubers who do though.

I'm not sure distilling urine is a very efficient way to reclaim water and you certainly won't be happy with the end results of whatever container you use to accomplish the distillation from! Without the salt content the results really couldn't dehydrate you but distilling urine for consumption is clearly an act of desperation.

Wish there was a chemist here who could help us out more with the chemistry here.

[Murph]

Wish there was a chemist here who could help us out more with the chemistry here.

If it looks like pee, and smells like pee... It's pee.