Buenos días, con respecto a tus preguntas, nosotros usamos aserrín de maderas duras, como es el caso de copaiba, capirona, Huayruro, Pumakiro y Cachimbo.

Con respecto a la infiltración de la orina, esta resultando muy bien, puesto que el lugar donde estamos trabajando tiene un suelo arenoso, aunque tenemos varias inquietudes con respecto a la infiltración en la nueva comunidad, puesto que su suelo es rocoso. Estamos investigando en ello.

Asimismo, estamos haciendo un seguimiento por fase al proceso de compostaje, son análisis microbiológicos para realmente saber si las temperaturas y el proceso está erradicando a los patógenos.

Saludos, Celia

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Translation by Google Translate added by moderator (EvM):

Good morning, regarding your questions, we use hardwood sawdust, such as copaiba, capirona Huayruro, Pumakiro and Cachimbo.

With regard to the infiltration of urine, this being very good, because the place where we are working with has a sandy soil, although we have several concerns about the infiltration of the new community in which the soil is rocky. We are investigating it.

Also, we are following the process for composting phase are microbiological analysis to really know if the temperatures and the process is eradicating pathogens.

Regards, Celia

Primero que todo, felicidades por este proyecto tan lindo y ojalá todo les funcione bien. Mi pregunta es respecto a la adición de aserrín: ¿Aserrín de qué madera es? Leí que el aserrín en general no es muy recomendado, y el peor es el de pino por su acidez. Pueden verificar eso en algunas publicaciones que prueban tratamiento comparando aditivos. Lo principal es: ¿Están consiguiendo niveles de parásitos o microorganismos bajos, es decir, que cumplan alguna norma peruana o intercacional? ¿De veras les funcionó la infiltración de la orina? En varis unidades aquí en Chile, la infiltración tuvo complicaciones debido a la escasa permeabilidad de la tierra. Saludos!

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Translation by Google translate added by moderator (EvM):

First of all, congratulations on this project so cute and hopefully everything will work well. My question is regarding the addition of sawdust: wood sawdust what is? I read that sawdust is not generally recommended, and the worst is pine for its acidity. They can verify that in some publications that test comparing treatment additives. The main thing is: Are they getting parasites or micro levels low, ie satisfying any Peruvian or international standard? Really it worked infiltration of urine? In various units here in Chile, the infiltration had complications due to low soil permeability. Greetings!

A quick translation of Celia's reply:

Hi, I commented a bit of what we do and as Jessica mentioned above, from approximately 43 families we collect feces mixed with drying material (sawdust) once a week. Then we start a composting process that begins with the emptying of the full container and then mix it with semi dry leaves, so that there is not a lot of fly breeding. We treat our material in humid piles that we regularly irrigate, we know it is still a partly controlled method, but we do measure daily temperatures and that we rely for the turning (aeration). Currently our composting process is analyzed and evaluated regarding the eradication of pathogens (we arrived at elevated temperatures 65-70 º c) but we need further development in our procedure to achieve higher temperatures that will be beneficial to total eradication of pathogens. We highly emphasize the importance of obtaining a safe Compost product and we pay attention to be aligned with international requirements of quality, reliability in order zo contribute to the development of sustainable living situation for our customers.

Me olvidaba, los resultados físico químicos de nuestro compost, se encuentran en rangos que van dentro de los parámetros químicos, (Norma austriaca O-NORM S2023)

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Translation by Google translate added by moderator (EvM):

I forgot, the physical results of our compost chemicals are in ranges that are within chemical parameters (Austrian Standard O-NORM S2023)

Hi, Les comento un poco de lo que hacemos, aunque Jessica lo menciono anteriormente, aproximadamente recogemos de 43 familias las heces mezcladas con el material secante (aserrín) recolectados durante una semana, luego hacemos un proceso de compostaje, este inicia con el vaciado de los recipiente y le incorporamos hojas semi secas, para que no haya mucha proliferación de moscas. El tratamiento consiste en humedecer las pilas que requieren del agua, nosotros nos damos cuenta de ello mediante el método del puño, asimismo tomamos temperaturas diarias y en eso nos basamos para realizar el volteo (aireación). Actualmente se esta llevando a cabo un seguimiento del proceso del compostaje con respecto a la erradicación de los patógenos, llegamos a temperaturas elevadas 65 a 70ºc pero de todas maneras se necesita adicionar otro paso dentro de nuestro procedimiento para alcanzar temperaturas más altas que serán beneficiosas para la erradicación total de patógenos. Estamos considerando la importancia de obtener un producto Compost inocuo y que vaya con las exigencias de calidad, garantía y que contribuya en el desarrollo de una vida sostenible de las personas.

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Translation by Google Translate added by moderator (EvM) - better translation followed by Jessica in the post below:

Hi , I commented a bit of what we do , but Jessica mentioned above, approximately 43 families collect feces mixed with drying material (sawdust) collected during a week, then make a composting process that begins with the emptying of incorporate the container and semi dry leaves , so that there is not a lot of fly breeding. Treatment consists of wet batteries require water , we realize it by fist method also take daily temperatures and that we rely for the turning ( aeration ). It is currently being followed up the composting process with regard to the eradication of pathogens , we arrived at elevated temperatures 65-70 º c but anyway you need to add another step in our procedure to higher temperatures that will be beneficial to total eradication of pathogens. We are considering the importance of obtaining a Compost product safe and go with the requirements of quality, reliability and contribute to the development of sustainable living people.

Celia, gracias por la introducion. Por favs puedes explicar un poquito mas que es nuestro proceso de hacer compost? Como puedes ver, la traducion funciona mas o menos.

Dear Massimo, thank you for getting in touch! We would be very much interested to talk to Agua y Riles.
In the meantime we will read more on your website and write you again!

To Jürgen: thank you for your suggestions. Do you have any documents on the process that you propose? We are currently producing compost since gas and electricity is widely available in Lima, but soil is not. Lima is built on sand as it is in the middle of the desert - so there are almost no natural greenzones and there is a high demand for good soil here. Still, we are definitely looking in all possibilities and would be interested to further understand yours.

Hi Jessixr,

Just answering to the extract of your mail quoted below…

“SANITATION IN PERU
10 million people in Peru, one third of the population, do not have access to proper sanitation. Lima is the 2nd driest capital in the world. As the city is running out of water, it struggles to provide water and water-based sewer connections for all its inhabitants: in Lima, about 3 million people (600,000 families) lack access to sanitation facilities. Due to the city’s water shortage, the public sewage company Sedapal has began to reach out to new solutions in the alternative sanitation sector this year (among others; x-runner) with the aim to reach the 3 million people that they will never be able to provide with water-based sanitation.
x-runner works in Villa El Salvador, the oldest slum of Lima. Villa El Salvador, just as all the other shantytowns in Lima, has been built on top of sand dunes and instable grounds of Lima’s desert. For the past decades it has been growing without any great deal of urban planning on sanitation or water infrastructure. In Villa el Salvador and other shantytowns, family members of all ages usually live under one roof. They have basic education, they might own items such as televisions or a fridge, but they do not have a proper toilet. They use buckets or pit latrines – two methods that have been proven unhygienic and inconvenient: they cause foul odour, provide breeding grounds for insects and diseases and they contaminate the grounds and the ground waters of entire neighborhoods. Families struggle with chronic stomach diseases, and children with diarrhea.”

This sounds like common problems of many big cities grown in coastal areas and lacking fresh water and working sanitation systems. Why don’t you try to use saltwater from the nearby ocean to wash the sludge from collector points down to a treatment station, let it decompose (anaerobic and aerobic bacteria exist in saltwater as well), dry it (using heat generated –see your desert climate- from solar collectors) and then burn the remaining dry sludge using high temperature combustion to generate electrical power? The basic technology needed exists and doesn’t need new developments, the result would be cinder full of minerals that do no harm and conveniently scaled combustion power plants should be affordable (I know the main issue is collecting the feces from households and bring them to collecting points, but that’s the same issue with any other method, too). Particularly great cities as Lima do have a need for additional power sources, and combustion plants could be used, too, for burning environmentally-neutral plastic garbage etc.

Best regards,

Jürgen Tümmler

Dear Massimo,
Good to hear from you. If you have brochures and alike, it is more practical and efficient if you attach them to your post or give people the URL to your website, rather than saying "please e-mail me and I will send you the brochure".

If I am not mistaken, your brochure is available from your website here:
www.parsep.co.za/pages/processes.html

(correct?)

Please continue to update us on your progress (I saw you gave an update in the other thread: forum.susana.org/forum/categories/53-fae...mit=12&start=24#5847). Thanks a lot.

Kind regards,
Elisabeth

Good day,I read with interest your write up on the excellent work you are doing, congratulations. Can you explain what you are doing with the waste they you are collecting?
We have a process (plant) that is used to dry and pasteurize human waste, with the output / end product being safe to handle, and use as a ground conditioner (fertilizer). Please send me a mail on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and i will send you the brochure and write up.
We have a test machine in Santiago, and will be used for test work at Aquas Y Riles soon. If you want I will put you in touch with our representative there.
The machine is simple and cheap to run and maintain, it creates employment for under -skilled people, and produces a sale-able product.
Please also refer to
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/53-fae...-in-ethekwini-durban

Chat soon... Massimo

Hola a todos, mi nombre es Celia Vásquez y trabajo en x.runner-venture, actualmente soy la gerente de operaciones. Mi trabajo consiste en que todas las áreas concernientes a la recolección, logística, lavado, tratamiento de compost , mantenimiento del área de trabajo y otras como Pago del producto, Relaciones con la comunidad; se realicen y lleven a cabo de una manera eficiente y óptima, para así llegar a la eficacia en las operaciones.


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Translation by Google Translate; not perfect but gives an idea (added by moderator EvM):

Hello everyone, my name is Celia Vasquez and venture x.runner work, I am now the operations manager. My job is all areas concerning the collection, logistics, laundry, compost treatment, maintenance and other work area as Payment Product, Community Relations, made ​​and carried out in an efficient and optimal in order to reach efficiency in operations.

Hi! I would like to introduce one of my team members:
Celia Vasquez, here on SuSanA as cjvs25, is an Agricultural Engineer from the Agraria University here in Lima.
Celia is in charge of running the pick-up service and of our composting process. She can definitely better answer some of the questions (Chris Canaday) that are more technical and more treatment related.
Celia speaks English, but feels much more comfortable to converse in Spanish (how well does the translating option on SuSanA work?) and she will quickly introduce herself.

Somehow I had some formatting issues and had to continue my post in a new window:
So for all SuSanA members I would like to give an clearer overview of what we do and where we work and also, on what are our next steps are:

OVERVIEW
We bring reliable and responsible sanitation to those urban households that do not have a toilet. X-runner provides a sanitation system that works without piping or sewers. We have designed a portable dry toilet that does not require water, and that can be installed quickly, easily, and affordably within any home. It is aesthetically appealing, straightforward and comfortable to use for people of all ages.
Our toilet works through resource separation: a simple divider in the toilet bowl enables urine and feces to be directed into different collection containers. This helps collecting and storing the excrements smell free.
Our toilet comes with a professional pick-up service where every week, in exchange for a fee, x-runner goes to the homes and replaces their full feces containers with clean ones. This way, our families only need to worry about using and maintaining their toilet, while we take care of disposing the content. After the pick-up, we then transport the collected containers to our central facility hub. There, we treat the feces through a composting process, during which pathogens are destroyed and the feces are being upcycled into compost.

SANITATION IN PERU
10 million people in Peru, one third of the population, do not have access to proper sanitation. Lima is the 2nd driest capital in the world. As the city is running out of water, it struggles to provide water and water-based sewer connections for all its inhabitants: in Lima, about 3 million people (600,000 families) lack access to sanitation facilities. Due to the city’s water shortage, the public sewage company Sedapal has began to reach out to new solutions in the alternative sanitation sector this year (among others; x-runner) with the aim to reach the 3 million people that they will never be able to provide with water-based sanitation.
x-runner works in Villa El Salvador, the oldest slum of Lima. Villa El Salvador, just as all the other shantytowns in Lima, has been built on top of sand dunes and instable grounds of Lima’s desert. For the past decades it has been growing without any great deal of urban planning on sanitation or water infrastructure. In Villa el Salvador and other shantytowns, family members of all ages usually live under one roof. They have basic education, they might own items such as televisions or a fridge, but they do not have a proper toilet. They use buckets or pit latrines – two methods that have been proven unhygienic and inconvenient: they cause foul odour, provide breeding grounds for insects and diseases and they contaminate the grounds and the ground waters of entire neighborhoods. Families struggle with chronic stomach diseases, and children with diarrhea.

EXPANDING OUR SERVICE:
Next week we will roll out in a new community, where we'll install our new toilets, test a new branding and marketing and also test some new price packages. We want to reach by teh end of 2014 at least 550 families. At this number we can achieve a break even on a service level and proof that our system can work in financial and technical terms:

What we've done to be ready for expansion:

Product:
For the past months, our design team has improved the design of the x-runner toilet significantly
• We have 43 manually produced fiberglass toilets ready to be installed (locally produced)
• The fabrication of a large scale tooling for an automated fiberglass production process is in progress (with this tooling we can produce up to 2000 toilets - locally). They are still expensive though as in fiberglass production price does not go down very much with the number of pieces.

Customer segments:
Throughout the month of June and July, we conducted in-depth interviews with our families to better understand their decision making and financial behaviour

Mapping of communities:
We’ve been scouting new communities and we are mapping different options. We’re meeting with community members and leaders to have a better understanding of the specific challenges. We also worked with the local sanitation utility Sedapal to see where they can expand in the past 10 years and what parts of the city they will not be able to reach.

Compost & Compost Training:
• Throughout July and August, the National Agrarian University of Lima has been training our entire staff on compost treatment, quality management, health and safety.
• Further building of the composting plant
• We hired an agricultural engineer from the UNALM who has already conducted thorough research into the Lima compost market and who will position x-runner’s product in this market.
• Another engineer from UNALM is taking and analysing probes every week from our compost and will write a master thesis on her work

Logistics & technology:
From April through July - together with Nabil Mansouri from Stanford/EAWAG - we’ve implemented three new technology tools:
1. Mobile Biz: an invoice system for payment collection
2. ODK: a data collection system for process management and data collection
3. Podio: a web-based platform for organizing team communication, business processes, data and content in project management workspaces

Sanitation marketing:
We’ve hired a marketing student from UPC to build, manage and implement marketing, sales, and customer research activities. She has already started building a brand that should help us making the topic of sanitation more attractive to our users.

Impact measuring:
We are continuously defining additional indicators for our impact monitoring during the pilot. At this point, we are measuring routines with the compost such as weight of feces collected, nutrients level, pathogen level, amount of water in the compost and the amount of compost generated.