Novel faecal sludge treatment – perceptions and user acceptance (The Netherlands)

The limited availability of land, rapid generation of FS and the time needed to start-up most conventional FS treatment technologies in these areas make them unsuitable for use at the onset of an emergency for faecal sludge management. A recent innovation for easy and rapid deployment in the event of an emergency is the mobile microwave-based FS treatment technology which was piloted in Jordan for the treatment of septic sludge. This research analyses the opinions of potential users of the technology and its treated products in order to assist further scaling up and assess acceptance for reuse in Jordan, respectively.

Experiences of the operators of the pilot-scale technology and some intended improvements to be made during scaling-up were also considered. Data was collected from 38 sanitation experts from humanitarian and non-humanitarian sectors, 4 farmers and 3 operators using a combination of semi-structured interviews and questionnaire administration. It was shown that despite the fact that there was a general satisfaction with the treatment performance of the technology, its application in any context will depend on affordability, capacity, energy consumption, and operation and maintenance demand of the full-scale unit. Furthermore, responses from the farmers implied that there might be possible acceptance of the treated products for reuse in Jordan. Additionally, the full-scale unit is expected to be completely automated and more user friendly.