Bill Gates supports technology innovation that turns human waste to drinking water

Seattle-based engineering firm Janicki Bioenergy has received support from the philanthropic Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for its latest project, which turns human waste into drinking water.

Bill Gates, the billionaire activist, is backing the innovation that enables processing of potable water and energy from human waste.

Made possible through an "OmniProcessor", the technology involves extraction of water from sewage piped or delivered to the facility.

The dried sewage is incinerated in a steam engine, which powers the entire machine without any odour emission.

With capacity to handle 14t of waste from 100,000 people, the innovation can produce up to 86,000l of potable water along with net 250KW of power.

The OmniProcessor runs at 1,000°C and meets all emission standards set by the US Government, Gates stated in his blog.

Gates has assured of his commitment to the technology through an open public demonstration at the facility.

Gates said: "The water tasted as good as any I’ve had out of a bottle, and having studied the engineering behind it, I would happily drink it every day; it’s that safe."