20080307574 | PORTABLE COMPOSTING TOILET SYSTEM - A portable composting toilet system has a compartmentalized receptacle for receiving human waste, a gray-water circulation subsystem for circulating gray water formed by mixing water with waste through the compartmentalized receptacle to promote mixing of the waste to thereby accelerate digestion of the waste, and an air-circulation subsystem for emitting air bubbles into a sludge formed at a bottom of the compartmentalized receptacle to break up the sludge to thereby accelerate digestion of the waste. The air circulation subsystem can include an air-driven pump that causes the gray water to circulate while allowing feeding pressurized air to diffuser loops in each compartment to create sludge-breaking bubbles. This portable composting toilet system so efficiently decomposes waste that the maintenance costs of hauling residual sludge to the surface (when the toilet is used underground in a mine) is significantly lower than for conventional toilets, thus providing substantial cost savings to mine operators. | 12-18-2008 |