Dutch pilot turns office urine into electricity and nutrient recovery, powering water-board fleet
Male staff at a Dutch water board diverted urine into a bio-electrochemical system that generated enough electricity to drive its electric vehicles about 50 km per day while extracting nitrogen and phosphorus.
In the northern Netherlands, Water board Friesland instructed its male workforce to use a special urinal whose output was channeled to a shipping-container rig developed by the water-technology institute Wetsus. The bio-electrochemical cell uses bacteria to break down the urea-rich urine, delivering electrons to an anode that generate electricity enough to power the board’s fleet of electric vehicles for roughly 50 km each day, while extracting ammonia and phosphate for fertilizer use.
Research published in Water Research reported a surplus of 3.46 kJ per gram of nitrogen recovered, indicating a net energy gain. A variant of the system, a microbial electrolysis cell, can produce hydrogen gas, but field trials at a university campus and the Glastonbury Festival only yielded enough power for small lights. The technology highlights urine’s potential as a concentrated feedstock for sustainable energy and nutrient recovery.
Why it matters
It demonstrates a practical way to turn everyday waste into renewable energy and fertilizer, cutting emissions and resource use.
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