Sanitation, water & Food
IPStar spinout 'SEMiLLA Sanitation BV' is using advanced space technology from the MELiSSA program for urine, grey and black water treatment.
The objective is to accelerate the development and deployment of the technology in remote places and disaster areas. The technology provides cost-efficient solutions with no or low environmental impacts to process human urine and feces and produce water and essential nutrients. The question of sanitation is “a public health issue that is not properly addressed” (Emmanuelle Bastide). Yet sanitation is critical for preventing under nutrition “a deadly disease which causes 45% of deaths in children under 5” (Jean Lapègue). The SEMiLLA sanitation system brings the solution with toilets en washing facilities to convert the yellow, grey and black water into clean water and food.
In 2030, everyone should have access to clean drinking water and hygienic sanitation. That's in the sixth Sustainable Development Goal of the United Nations. According to Geeta Rao Gupta, Executive Director of UNICEF, access to clean water is even a fundamental prerequisite for achieving other sustainable development goals.
The project is funded under both the Dutch REAP and MIT grant program with contributions of SEMiLLA IPStar, Nijhuis Industries, HAS and University of Ghent (Belgium).
