Possible applications

The product can disinfect, deodorizes, and solidify human excrement, just by sprinkling the special treatment agent on it. Therefore, it does not require infrastructure such as electricity or water sewage for treating human waste. In Japan, this treatment agent is widely used for temporary toilets in sight seeing spots and construction sites.

According to our own researches in Mongolia and African countries, it is proved that the product also has an effect on prevention of contamination in groundwater, used in digging pit hole toilets, since it sterilizes and solidify the excrement. Compared with other similar products such as bio-toilet, it is easier to use and more cost-effective in developing countries without requiring a large amount of funds and maintenance for machinery facilities. Moreover, it is also confirmed that the treated excrement has a fertilizer effect when it is mixed with the soil as well as water retention effect. Thus, it can be used for agricultural purpose in dry areas. The treated excrement can also be decomposed by ultraviolet rays and can be reduced in weight when it is exposed to sunlight.

Competitive advantage

【Competitive products】
1) Bio-toilet
Bio-toilet might compete with our product as it has a mechanism to decompose organic matter in excreta with sawdust and cedar chips (hereinafter referred to as “biochip”), but the treatment tank containing biochips needs power to be kept warm. The heat of the treatment tank is basically to evaporate the water in the urine. Therefore, when many people use the bio-toilet continuously, the biochip in the treatment tank becomes muddy, which require replacement of biochip with big cost. This is a biggest disadvantage of the bio-toilet.

Especially in mountainous areas, where the altitude is high and the annual average temperature is low, the treatment tank needs energy (electric power) to be kept heated. However, stable energy source to generate heat cannot be always ensured. Some of temporary type of the bio-toilets may require a generator.

2) Solid-liquid separation / filtration method
Another outdoor toilet using solid-liquid separation and filtration method, is a small sewage treatment facility, which requires electricity and water. These methods need to add water to collect sludge. In addition, the installation cost is high as well as the cost of maintenance and operation pumping. According to our researches, where the temperature is low in the mountainous region, it is confirmed that these methods have the drawback as water pipes can be frozen and the wastewater in the pipes needs to be melted.

3) Temporary toilet
The disadvantages of temporary toilet are that it generates bad smell and requires pumping up of the excrement. Therefore, it can be a problem that the excrement in tanks is not sufficiently removed, which makes it difficult to use the toilet continuously. That is why temporally toilet is becoming less advantageous and no more secured method as sanitary toilet even in developed countries.

In conclusion, the advantages of our product are summarized below.

1. Mobility
As for mobility, our product is overwhelmingly superior as well as 3) Temporary toilet since 1) Bio toilet has many restrictions on movement because it requires electricity and 4) Solid-liquid separation / filtration method installation type cannot be mobile.

2. Odourless
Our product is characterized by no foul odor, meanwhile 3) The temporary toilet has a foul odor because the waste is directly underneath. 1) Bio-toilet also has a foul odor when bio is decomposed. This is even worse if the biochip solidifies into a mud. 2) The solid-liquid separation / filtration type installed type always has bad odor from the treatment tank, especially if the treatment tank is built directly under the building.

3. Continuous use
Our product, 2) Solid-liquid separation / filtration type, and 3) Temporary toilet have no problem for continuous use. Meanwhile, the bio-toilet has disadvantage to be used continuously as the moisture does not dry and the biochip become mud.

4. Usability in disaster
Our product and 3) Temporary toilet are overwhelmingly superior. 1) Bio-toilet and 2) Solid-liquid separation / filtration type installation type is difficult to be used in disasters. In addition, our product can be stored as stock in warehouse, and can be easily distributed in disaster periods to be used as barrier-free toilet.

5. Usability in cold regions
Our product can be used in cold areas that reach below freezing temperature, such as mountainous areas and cold regions. The excrement is about 36℃ at the time of excretion, and the treatment agent of our product reacts without any problem. Besides it requires no rechargeable battery or mechanical drive. It is proved that it can function in the demonstration conducted in Mongolia which was the extremely cold situation at -27℃. On the other hand, 1) Bio-toilet needs more energy in cold regions and bio does not work in such condition. 3) The water conduit freezes even in the solid-liquid separation / filtration type installation type. As 1) Bio-toilet requires more electricity in mountain where the temperature is low than flat ground. However, since the voltage of the generator and the solar power is not stable, the biochip in the treatment tank cannot catch up with drying and eventually becomes mud. 2) The solid-liquid separation / filtration method installed type requires the staff to melt the pipes frozen in the mountain with heat transfer wires. 4) In the temporary toilet, the tank is frozen and the vacuuming service cannot reach mountain areas.
                                        Fig. 2 Demonstration at New Year Event under -27℃ in Ulaanbaatar

                                           Table 1. Comparison between Mt. Fuji Toilet and other products

	Cost	Infrastructure	Mobilization	Odourless	Continuous Use	In disaster	In cold  areas
	〇＝Low ×＝High	〇＝Not necessary ×＝Necessary
Our product	〇	〇	〇	〇	〇	〇	〇
Bio-toilet	×	×	△	△	×	×	×
Solid-liquid separation / filtration method	×	×	×	△	〇	×	×
Temporary toilet	〇	〇	〇	×	〇	〇	×

As shown in table 1, this product has advantage in continuous use and comfort, which are important conditions for toilet use. It is also advantageous in cost and mobility, which are necessary elements for diffusion. At the time of a disaster, it is excellent in that it can be used with the existing temporary toilet.

Performance

The essential part of our technology is to sterilize excrement and remove bad odors with a special treatment agent. Chemical material to sterilize and deodorize the excrement (slaked lime, zeolite, etc.) and physical solidification (such as a water-absorbing polymer) can be combined and provided depending on different situations and purposes.

The treated material is proven to have a fertilizer effect and can be safely mixed with the soil. It can also be used as a water reservoir in drought areas and can prevent contamination by preventing waste from directly touching groundwater, which also ensures safe drinking water. Since the excrement can be treated without electricity, water and sewage, the product can contribute to significant energy savings and CO₂ reduction compared to other existing technologies. If the post-treatment substances are used for agricultural purpose, converted to fertilizer, it is expected to have further positive environmental impact. In addition, if the water retention of the treated material is utilized, it will be a good material for greening in drought areas and deserts as it has a function to retain water.

According to the laboratory test by a Japanese research institution, Staphylococcus aureus was not detected in 24 hours and E. Cole was not detected even after one year in the excrement treated with the agent of our product.

                                                     Fig. 3 Comparative effectiveness experiment

In addition, two temporary toilets and one barrier-free toilet were installed in Yoyogi national park in Tokyo for the event of the Earth Day in March 2019.
As the temporary toilets had been in continuous use during the 8 hours on event days and more than 1,000 people used the temporary toilets as total in two days while 90 disabled people or families with children used the barrier-free toilet. The survey conducted with a questionnaire for users revealed the following results.

Technical maturity / Past record of introduction

Our product has been used as a storage for disaster management in Japan and actually used in disaster periods such as the Great East Japan Earthquake (Many has been used in Fukushima accident sites), the Kumamoto earthquake, the Hokkaido Iburi Eastern Earthquake and the West Japan heavy rain site.

In mount Fuji, supported by the municipal government of Yamanashi Prefecture, our 30,000 mobile toilets were distributed in the past five years. Though it was initially worried that handbags in which the mobile toilet is packed would be thrown away in the mountain trails, there have been no cases like that so far. This is because our product is potable as it has less odor compared to other portable toilets (more than 90% of users answered that the odor would not matter), which can be concluded from three-year research with questionnaire in Fuji mountain. In addition, we have introduced our toilets for the past five years at Norikura Kogen and Norikuradake montains in the Northern Alps region of Nagano Prefecture. Meanwhile demonstration tests of our products begun in Yakushima and other mountain areas.

                                                                 Fig. 4 The leaflet of Mt. Fuji Toilets

・In Mongolia, two of our products (temporary toilets with the agent) were installed at Naadam, a national event, for demonstration experiment in 2015. On December 31 in Ulaanbaatar, Other two toilets were installed at the countdown event at Ulaanbaatar City. In 2016, JICA (Japan International Corporation Overseas) supported our field survey and demonstration in Naadam in the scheme of supporting small enterprises.

      
                                                   Fig. 5 Demonstration at Naadam festival in 2016

・ In Peru, we provided 10,000 mobile toilets in JICA’s scheme to support small enterprises in 2017.
・ In Bolivia, in cooperation with JICA’s local office, we conducted a mobile toilet demonstration test for tourists in mountainous areas and Uyuni Salt Lake.

                                                     Fig. 6 Mobile toilet demonstration test in Bolivia

Information on patent related to this technology

(Japan)
Patent No.6167389 Aggregated Treatment Agent
Other 17 patents in Japan
(USA)
Patent No. 9776167 Aggregated Treatment Agent
(China)
Patent No. 102947231 Aggregated Treatment Agent
(Korea)
Patent No. 101979313 Aggregated Treatment Agent
(Vietnam)
Patent No. 20860 Aggregated Treatment Agent

Name	Excelsior, Inc.
Address	3-30-2, Wakabayashi, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo 154-0023, Japan
Capital	JPY 28 million (as of November 20, 2018)
Contact person	Mr. Kanichi ADACHI E-Mail: kan-ichi@excelsior-inc.com TEL: +81-3-5431-7341 Corporate website: http://excelsior-inc.com/english/
Number of employees	4 (as of April , 2017)
Date of company foundation	15 April, 1997
The type of business	Producing and selling eco-products such as toilet with chemical agent to treat the excrement

                  

International operation

Number of employees for international operation		2
Overseas offices	City, Country	Name of Company (if applicable)
	N/A	N/A

Modality of business transaction

Direct investment
If the sales channel can be expanded by export and even local production can generate profit, we will plan to construct a factory in the country and establish a local corporation as a manufacturer to produce our product. 

Export of product
We will also export out product to the countries, and expand the sales channels of the products. Sales will be done mainly based on alliances with local agencies in which we establish partnerships with distributors and importing companies.

Schematic illustration of the technology