Reclamation of zero discharge system with CDTS technology

Abstract

In present day scenario, conventional flush type toilet system is being deployed by the railway department in passenger coaches. The major disadvantage of which is the direct discharge of human waste on railway track and water bodies continuously throughout its journey. This discharge waste does not only corrode the railway tracks, but also result in contamination of atmosphere. Since very long, Indian Railway has been trying to overcome this problem, by implanting CDTS (Controlled Discharge Toilet system - developed by DRDO and IR engineers) and ZDTS (zero discharge toilet system developed by RDSO, Lucknow and IIT Kanpur). In CDTS technology the human waste is being discharged on railway tracks itself, once the train attains a speed of approximately 30km/hour and more till then it is being stored in inbuilt retention tanks present underneath the toilets. This technology only reduces the amount of discharged waste on tracks only to some extent and not completely. CDTS toilets are very expensive and even incapable to prevent the corrosion on tracks. While in ZDTS, toilet system remains the same, only the discharge parameters and location is different. Here, instead of directly discharging the waste on tracks, it is being collected in retention tanks and converted into fertilizers first with the addition of anaerobic bacteria. Then it is dumped onto barren lands. But ZDTS technology has its own limitations such as on being used by a large number of passengers at a time and discharge of non-biodegradable waste in the toilets due to which system will get jammed, because in such situations bacteria cannot convert non-biodegradable waste and human waste into organic manure. Therefore, we proposed a new technique to overcome these types of problem generated by CDTS and Zero discharge system.