MADRONA, KRISTINE MAE O.

XI-EINSTEIN

REVISED

Group 15: IDENTIFICATION OF ELECTROLYTES IN HUMAN URINE AS SOURCE

OF ELECTRICITY

Introduction

It was 1752 when Benjamin Franklin discovered electricity and up to this date we are still

using it and it has quite a lot of benefit to us. Electricity is all around us-driving devices like our

cell phones, laptops, lamps, iron soldering and air conditioners. Electricity is a very important

commodity nowadays. Day after day, fossil fuel like coal is being consumed throughout the

world to give us the electricity that we needed. However, there’s still an estimate of 1.2 billion

people that have little to no access of electricity (The Rockfeller Foundation, 2017).

Fossil fuel is one of the main sources of energy. But with the continuous increase in the

demand of electricity, the supply of fossil fuels swiftly diminishes. Due to the dearth, the demand

for energy is mounting and so as the price. People in the lower class can’t afford to have

electricity (eesi.org)

On the other hand, fossil fuels are not just costly and very limited it is also a big threat to

the environment. Burning of fossil fuels produces toxic pollutants such as sulfur dioxide and

nitrogen oxides. Such contaminants will grow extremely high up into the atmosphere when they

mix and react with water, oxygen, and other chemicals to create a lot of acidic pollutants, called

air pollution (nrdc.org.).

Diversely, alternative sources of electricity exist such as: solar, wind, and geothermal

energy. Nevertheless, these alternatives have their own down sides. According to

renewableresourcescoalition.org, electricity generation from solar energy depends on the

country’s availability of sunlight. Wind is also a source of energy but the turbines that are used to

accumulate this type of electricity is threatening to the wild life especially for the birds.

Geothermal energy is another way to accumulate electricity but the down side is, in extreme

cases it can cause earthquakes as stated in energyinformative.org. Moreover, the said energy

resources are costly when it comes to construction, installation, and maintenance. They also
require wide space and may potentially use the land areas that are supposed to be utilized for

agriculture and farming.

Due to the global interest in developing renewable, low cost and environmentally friendly

forms of energy several scientists have found an alternative fuel that should aid the need of

ecofriendly and accessible energy (Matkar et al, 2017)

Urine is a liquid formed by the kidneys to remove waste products from the bloodstream.

Human urine is yellowish in color, and chemically variable. Human urine primarily consists of

water, with organic solutes containing urea, creatinine, uric acid, and trace amounts of enzymes

(Matkar, et al, 2017). Urine has a high salt concentration and a high buffer power, while it can

also provide an organic source for generating electricity (Zang et al, 2011). Urine is also an

abundant waste product that requires energy-intensive processes in modern wastewater treatment

facilities therefore turning it into a possible sustainable source of energy would be beneficial to

wastewater treatment facilities and to the people who has a very limited source of energy (You et

al, 2016).

The average human being can produce about 2.5 liters of urine per day, and given that

cattle can produce up to three times as much, an estimated global annual urine output of

approximately 6.4 trillion liters is produced. Usually, prior to returning to natural water bodies,

urine is flushed down the toilet for disposal at wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). While

urine consists of less than 1% of municipal wastewater in volume, in municipal wastewater it

contains about 50% of total phosphorus (P) and 75% of total nitrogen (N) (You et al, 2016).

With these the researchers aims to solve the problems regarding the lack of energy

resources by identifying a possible source of energy that is renewable, cheap, and accessible. The

success of the study will benefit the people in the community especially those who are in remote

areas.
MADRONA, KRISTINE MAE O. XI-EINSTEIN

REVISED

GROUP 15: IDENTIFICATION OF ELECTROLYTES IN HUMAN URINE AS SOURCE

OF ELECTRICITY

Review of Related Literatures and Studies

In 1752, by adding a key during a storm to a kite string, Benjamin Franklin showed that

static electricity and lightning were the same. His proper understanding of electricity's existence

paves the way for the future.

Electricity is today’s sole of society; our jobs and leisure activities as well as our cultural,

social and physical welfare all rely on the adequate and continuous electricity supply. Nowadays

diesel, gas, coal, water power production is declining day by day, so we need to produce

electricity from other types of power plants (Zang et al, 2011). The insufficiency for electrical

energy is rising day by day. Because of the scarcity, the demand for energy increases but the

issue with this fossil-fuel is environmental emissions such as greenhouse gases, which

contributes to global warming and it is also very costly (Bisen et al, 2015).

Arrhenius (1896) was the first to state that the use fossil fuels as a source of energy may

contribute to global warming. Overtime alternative energy sources popped up to lessen the

damage of producing electricity to the nature. Alternative source of energy are available such as

solar, wind, geothermal, water and biomass however, they are not as environmentally friendly as

they should be, it backfires at nature but not as bad as the burning of fossil fuels; it is also not

accessible to the people in the lower part of the society for it is really costly. Moreover, despite

of the presence of these alternative sources of energy, burning fossils are still the primary source

of electricity.

Today, the main sources for global electrical-energy generation are: thermal power it’s

primarily using coal (39.9%) and secondarily using natural gas (22.6%); “large” hydroelectric

plants (17.2%); nuclear power from various nuclear power plants (NPPs) (11.2%); the last 9.2%
of the electrical energy is generated using oil (4.2%), and the remainder (5%) generated from

biomass, geothermal, intermittent wind, and solar energy (Pioro and Duffey, 2019).

Faced with the increasing problem of depleting fossil fuel, there is a global interest in

developing renewable and environmentally friendly forms of energy. Bioenergy is one type of

alternative energy that could be viable in addressing this problem by (Chouler et al, 2016).

As humanity struggles to deal with the problems caused by burning fossil fuels and those

alternatives, several scientists went through research and have found a fuel which they called

fuel of the future that is nothing more than urine (Matkar et al, 2017)

Urine is a liquid formed by the kidneys to remove waste products from the bloodstream.

Human urine is yellowish in color, and chemically variable. It primarily consists of water, with

organic solutes containing urea, creatinine, uric acid, and trace amounts of enzymes (Matkar, et

al, 2017). Urine has a high salt concentration and a high buffer power, while it can also provide

an organic source for generating electricity (Zang et al, 2011).

Urine quantity averages 1500 to 2000 ml in an adult man daily; it may vary according to

the amount of fluid being taken. In addition, it is correlated with the higher protein metabolism if

the higher protein intake is the urinary production, the urea created by the protein must be

flushed out of the body. Higher is the urea production in the body, the higher is the volume of

urine to excrete it. The urine color, without any traces, should be pure light amber. Sometimes,

however, a light flocculent mucus cloud may be seen floating in the normal urine. Urine’s

specific gravity varies from 1.010 to 1.025. Odor of urine is aromatic. The reaction of normal

urine is slightly acidic with an average pH of 6.0 (Matkar, et al, 2017).

Urine is primarily composed of water, urea and sodium chloride. An adult who takes

about 100 g protein in 24 hours, the composition of their urine is likely to be as follows: Water:

Near about 95% Solids: About 5% (urea 2% and other metabolic products3%. Other metabolic

products include: uric acid, Creatinine, electrolytes or salts such as sodium chloride, potassium

chloride and bicarbonate). Urea is one of the end products in the synthesis of proteins. It is

prepared from the deamined amino acid in the liver and reaches through blood circulation in the

kidneys (The normal blood urea level is 20-40 mg/dl). About 30 gram urea is excreted by the

kidneys daily. Uric Acid: The normal level of uric acid in blood is 2 to 6 mg/dl and about 1.5 to
2 gram is excreted daily in urine. Creatinine is the metabolic waste of creatin in muscle. Purine

bodies, oxalates, phosphates, sulphates and urates are the other metabolic products

Urine contains electrolytes such as: calcium, chloride, potassium, and sodium which can

be possibly used to conduct electricity. It is also an abundant waste product that requires energy-

intensive processes in modern wastewater treatment facilities therefore turning it into a

sustainable source of energy would be beneficial to wastewater treatment facilities and to the

people who has a very limited source of energy (You et al , b2016).