In the U.S., dry dog food has been used. 

Easy and available here. 

I developed a simulant to represent the physical and chemical properties of faeces. It is best suited to small batches as there are simpler, cheaper simulants if the only need is to represent the rheological properties (for pumping for example). 

The ratios of the dry components can be tailored based on the latest literature, for example the paper posted by Linda.

Faecal component : simulant component
Bacteria : yeast
Fiber : psyllium husk powder
Carbohydrate and free protein : bean powder (the carb/protein ratio in bean powder is about right)
Fat : peanut oil
Salt : table salt

To "thicken" the mixture, I used guar gum. It forms a colloidal hyrdogel that, qualitatively, causes the mixture to behave like faeces.

For anyone using this mixture, I would recommend making a batch with 25% solids (using whatever dry ratios you feel is best), 75% water, and then add guar gum until it achieves the consistency of a normal stool. Then use the same ratio of guar gum to dry solids as you vary the water content to achieve your desired TS. 

I wanted to experiment with using lard, butter, or vegetable shortening instead of oil, but never found the opportunity. Maybe something to play with?

Hi Linda:

Good to see your post on synthetic feces and fecal sludge. Hope you are confirmed and sailing well in your leadership position (see here: forum.susana.org/78-other-announcements/...ting-department-head).  I am keeping myself busy doing volunteering work after retirement through a nonprofit that I registered in 2003 called Bharathi Theertha (Abode of Saraswathi, the goddess of knowledge and education, www.bharathitheertha.org).  I visit India every year and spend two to three months.  This year we organized three international conferences on water and waste management in India.  See www.waterandwastemanagement.org for the details of two of the conferences that we organized in 2019 and 2020.   If we organize another conference next year in India, I will inform you.  Pl. give me your coordinates and send me your profile. I will send my profile by e-mail. Please send me your coordinates.

During working for my Ph.D. (1962-1966), There were three formulae for  synthetic sewage at that time for researchers to work on activated sludge issues.  Reactors were fed with synthetic sewage to develop activated sludge  I wanted to enumerate aerobic heterotrophs contained in activated sludge.  I found that agar plates made with extracts made from activated sludge mixed liquor from  from STPs gave the highest counts in comparison to the  agars made with extracts from mixed liquor developed on synthetic sewage.

As a side note the odor of feces of people consuming garlic, mustard oil, and food additives with aromatic properties  is different from the feces of folks not consuming such spicy and strong aromatic materials. Also it is different for the feces excreted by meat eating folks in comparison to folks living on vegetarian diets!!  Isn't it crazy to talk about this kind of stuff?!

I saw your guru, David Stensel two or three years ago at a WEF conference.  I also talked with his guru, Dr.Raymond Loehr, after I returned from India in March.                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Best wishes,
Prakash       
                                 
Dr. Prakasam Tata 
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.: +1 630-9156318 (WhatsApp)
         
        
 


 

Have you seen this recent publication?

Review of synthetic human faeces and faecal sludge for sanitation and wastewater research
Penn et al., Water Research 2018


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Abstract:
Investigations involving human faeces and faecal sludge are of great importance for urban sanitation, such as operation and maintenance of sewer systems, or implementation of faecal sludge management.
However, working with real faecal matter is difficult as it not only involves working with a pathogenic,
malodorous material but also individual faeces and faecal sludge samples are highly variable, making it
difficult to execute repeatable experiments. Synthetic faeces and faecal sludge can provide consistently
reproducible substrate and alleviate these challenges. A critical literature review of simulants developed
for various wastewater and faecal sludge related research is provided. Most individual studies sought to
develop a simulant representative of specific physical, chemical, or thermal properties depending on
their research objectives. Based on the review, a suitable simulant can be chosen and used or further
developed according to the research needs. As an example, the authors present such a modification for
the development of a simulant that can be used for investigating the motion (movement, settling and
sedimentation) of faeces and their physical and biological disintegration in sewers and in on-site sanitation systems.

Dear Sudheer,

It took me a little while to figure out which "Sir" you meant with your post.
I figured out you meant Gary Foutch's post from 3 May 2012, i.e. this one (scrol up in this thread, on Page 2 if the link doesn't take you there directly): forum.susana.org/forum/categories/214-va...mit=12&start=12#2922

I have done some research for you and have managed to track down some papers which I think will give you the correct reference for this graph and for more up to date research results. I've put the information into this other thread to keep things well organized (as this thread here is more about the artificial recipe of human faeces):

forum.susana.org/forum/categories/214-va...aper-from-2014#16226

Good that you had asked this question! Please tell us more in the other thread about your work in relationship with this topic?

Regards,
Elisabeth

Sir,
can you please provide with the reference to this particular graph you have shown. you have not provided the references for the other fluids being compared to fresh human faeces. Wooley et al., 2012 speaks only about fresh human faeces, it does not compare it with other fluids cited in the graph.

[this post is a follow-up to some questions that were asked on 21 July 2012, please scrol up]

For the Reinvent the Toilet Fair, we ordered the simulant for a company called Maximum Performance (www.map-testing.com). Attached are the specifications of the simulant, as well as their test protocol for flush toilets.


Rosalyn Rush

(Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, USA)

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Note by moderators: This post was made by a former user with the login name rosalyn who is no longer a member of this discussion forum.

Dear Elisabeth,
Thank you very much for connecting me with the exisiting post and discussion. I looked on all 3 pages, discussion was interesting and the information are highly valuable.

We, AIT is also a grantee of BMGF, and project aims to develop new/innovative sanitaion system. In this background, We are trying to develop mechanical separtor for solid-liquid separation from blackwater, and for the design/performance of such system bascially depends on the rheological properties of feces.

Thank you very much.

With best regards,
Saroj

Dear Saroj,
Welcome to the forum! Could you explain the context of your question: why do you want to know the viscosity?

In my role as moderator, I have moved your post into an existing thread: if you scrol up you can see that there has been a previous discussion on viscosity issues here on the forum (don't forget to view also page 1 and 2 of the discussion).

By the way, there is a search function at the very top ("advanced search") where you can search for words that have been used in the forum in the past.

Another thread of relevance for you is this one (this is the research grant of Chris Buckley's team in South Africa which is also dealing with this issue):
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/98-res...zn-south-africa#5045

I hope you are finding this useful. If you have follow-on questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Regards,
Elisabeth

Hello Everyone,
I am searching literature that explains about the viscosity of fresh human feces, and tells the typical value/ or range of it. I assume, viscosity value may vary with water contents, temperature and other constituents present in the fecal matter.
I will be grateful if anyone among us could share relevant information and literature related to this issue.
Thank you very much.

With best regards,
Saroj Chapagain
AIT, Thailand

Sir, your figure is great, but very difficult to read. Would you please email me a larger copy and anything else seminal to flow and mixing? A Ton of Thanks
Jim Blackburn

Hi Rosalyn, can you give us the details on ordering the simulant you’ve suggested? We’ve made some by the formula, but properties are a different than the web link states.