AN ENTREPRENEUR from Wallingford is working on a breakthrough in emergency sanitation, having invented a toilet for refugees which can generate power using poo.

Eoin Sharkey, 24, set up a company called the Biofactory in 2017 to produce a safe, alternative toilet for refugee camps, which takes human waste and uses it to produce biogas, a fuel which can be used for cooking and heating.

ALSO READ: Bill Bryson on his new book about the human body and his thoughts of Oxford

Now, the Biofactory is making waves for the Bath University graduate, with him recently making it through to the finals of the Universities Entrepreneur Awards 2019, sponsored by Santander.

Oxford Mail:

Eoin Sharkey.

Mr Sharkey said he believes the Biofactory could help approximately 250,000 in refugee camps across Africa in the near future.

He first had the idea for a toilet which could turn human waste into a useful fuel when he visited Kenya for a summer work placement with a water engineering consultant in 2017.

While working on a public information project for the United Nations about water safety, he noticed emergency toilets supplied to refugee camps in northern Kenya by a different branch of the UN were below the organisations own standards.

ALSO READ: This is the most popular house in Oxford on Zoopla

Mr Sharkey said: “I saw there was a massive gap and a need for an improved sanitation system. I also realised it needed to be low cost and manufacturable in the country.”

He added: “I came back and did my final year at university and during that time I designed our system through my final year project and came up with our solution to the initial problem to provide these improved toilets which also captures waste and turns it into biogas.”

Oxford Mail:

A diagram show the Biofactory toilet digesting poo, which is then used as a power source for cooking and heating.

Biogas is made from a mixture of gases produced by the breakdown of organic matter when oxygen is not present.

The fuel is often made from animal waste in livestock farming, or from recycled food waste, passed through an anaerobic digester.

ALSO READ: Oxfordshire NHS health services tell people to make 'winter plan'

The Santander awards, which took place on Friday, October 4, saw Mr Sharkey compete against 11 other finalists chosen from 11,000 university graduates around the UK.

The Biofactory is based in Bath, at a special building for start-up companies.

Mr Sharkey has a six year plan for the business, with hopes to roll out models of his biodigester toilets in Mozambique in the near future.

Oxford Mail:

A refugee camp in Eritrea. Picture: Pixabay.

Mr Sharkey attended Goring Primary School and Wallingford Secondary School before he went to Bath University to study a masters in engineering.

His mum and dad Karen and Paul, who live in Wallingford, are excited for the future of the young entrepreneur’s company.

His dad said: “What makes me very proud is how he has persevered with his vision, including holding down a weekend job to supplement his income, in order to take the best shot he can at getting his Biofactory system off the ground and into difficult areas where it could really provide substantive improvements in sanitation and health of people with really very little prospects in life.”