{"id":47500,"date":"2026-10-07T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T11:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=47500"},"modified":"2026-10-07T13:33:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T11:33:00","slug":"sa-innovation-turns-human-urine-into-fertiliser-reusable-water","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/sa-innovation-turns-human-urine-into-fertiliser-reusable-water\/","title":{"rendered":"SA innovation turns human urine into fertiliser, reusable water \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A South African (SA) Chemical Engineer and University spinout have developed a sustainable sanitation technology that converts human urine into concentrated liquid fertiliser and reusable water, offering a decentralised solution to the country\u2019s agricultural and water security challenges.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Led by Professor Dyllon Randall, Professor of Water Quality Engineering at the University of Cape Town and Chief Executive Officer of PeeCycling, the technology is currently operating at Cape Town\u2019s DHL Stadium.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The pilot system can process up to 3 000 litres of urine per day, saving approximately 2 000 litres of drinking water for every 1 000 litres processed by recovering water for cleaning, irrigation, and toilet flushing.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>By unlocking reverse osmosis technology through precise chemical manipulation, the process removes pathogens and pharmaceuticals while recovering vital nitrogen and phosphorus.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The innovation arrives as SA imports around 80% of its commercial fertiliser, leaving local agricultural markets vulnerable to global supply disruptions and price surges of up to 70%.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Recognised for its potential to transform urban sanitation and build food security across the continent, PeeCycling has been named one of four finalists for the 2026 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":47501,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-47500","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"SA\u2019s UCT innovation turns human urine into fertiliser and reusable water ","published_date":"2026-10-07 13:29:22","news_description":"SA\u2019s UCT innovation turns human urine into fertiliser and reusable water ","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47502,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/47500\/revisions\/47502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=47500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}