RTI International developing science-based solutions to global health challenges: innovations will help individuals and communities lead better lives.

• Position: RTI INTERNATIONAL

Drawn by a shared mission to improve the human condition and the freedom to pursue high-impact research, scientists and engineers at RTI have carried out thousands of projects for government and private-sector clients around the globe for more than 55 years.

Founded as the cornerstone of Research Triangle Park, today RTI is one of the worlds leading research organizations, with more than 3,700 people working in more than 75 countries to solve critical problems and the complex scientific challenges facing our society.

Safe and sustainable sanitation for the developing world

As part of one such challenge, RTI is reinventing the toilet through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It's developing an on-site waste-treatment system and toilet that does not require sewer, water or electricity infrastructure and will improve sanitation and health in the developing world.

RTFs toilet system converts human waste into burnable fuel, stored energy and disinfected, nonpotable water--all at a cost of less than 5 cents per user per day.

The RTI team recently received a three-year grant award to continue development of this toilet system and to field test the technology in low-income urban settings. One of the RTI prototypes is currently being tested in India, near the city of Ahmedabad. The team is working with local municipalities, nongovernmental organizations and other stakeholders to evaluate and improve the technology in order to facilitate both successful adoption and long-term sustainability.

"Waste-borne illnesses are a critical public health issue in the developing world, especially in India where children are at high risk of diarrheal disease," says Brian Stoner, Ph.D., senior fellow in materials and electronic technologies at RTI and the projects principal investigator. A new human waste treatment system could significantly improve the health and well-being of the more than 2.5 billion people worldwide who do not have access to safe and effective sanitation. In India alone, diarrheal disease is estimated to kill one child per minute.

RTI experts in engineering, international water and sanitation policy, user-centered design and economics collaborated with researchers from Duke University, Colorado State University and Roca Sanitario to create the prototype toilet. The recently awarded grant includes an expanded team of commercialization and product development partners as well as local experts in India.

The team also worked with...