Dr Dyllon Randall is a chemical engineer who teaches water quality engineering at the University of Cape Town’s Future Water Institute. More significantly, he is leading ground-breaking research in waste-water management where he and his team are literally mining human urine for phosphates – the key component for agricultural fertiliser. The phosphate recovery process he and his team have developed shows remarkable promise, being able to extract as much as 97% of the mineral from urine all the while saving the 3-6 litres of the drinkable water it takes to flush it down the toilet to a waste-water treatment plant. The process relies on a simple principle – the separation of human waste streams at source – which has been demonstrated to be so safe, reliable and efficient, it is now being applied in some of South Africa’s most high-tech and sustainable commercial buildings like Growthpoint Property’s 5 Green Star Rated building The ConneXXion.

But Randall’s award-winning research doesn’t limit itself to extracting high-value minerals from human waste. Taking what he calls a urine toolbox approach to his research, his project has pushed the boundaries of what more can be done with the already processed liquid gold, and produced the world’s first bio-brick made from human urine. Unlike conventional clay bricks which have to be kiln-fired under tremendous temperatures, the bio-brick, which is formed out of the same material as seashells and coral reefs, solidifies at room temperature – cutting out the financial and environmental costs linked to our reliance on carbon-based fuels. The process has very practical industrial applications beyond only producing conventional construction materials out of unconventional materials.

For Dr Dyllon Randall, there is a real opportunity to apply the lessons the natural environment is teaching us about closing the loop on waste streams, and he believes it can be done with serious investment into the innovative and interdisciplinary collaboration that natural and social scientists are doing through initiatives like the Future Water Institute. The goal is ultimately about constantly rethinking waste streams as a resource, and extracting maximum value from them so we can achieve a sustainable future much faster.

For Water For Life – The water podcast tells the extraordinary stories of ordinary people who have made it their life’s mission to preserve, purify and protect South Africa’s water resources. This podcast series is made possible by JoJo – for water, for life.