A fuel producing toilet system developed by South Korea's Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) will be exported to China.
The institute said Saturday that it recently signed a business agreement with a Chinese trade firm for the export of the eco-friendly toilets, as well as cooperation in bio-energy technologies.
The toilet named BeeVi - short for “Toilet, like Bee with a Vision” - was first installed at the institute in May where excrement is decomposed to produce fuel.
It works by transferring dried excrement from the toilet to a microbial response unit where the solid is converted into methane gas and carbon dioxide.
Methane is used as fuel for heating while carbon dioxide is used to grow micro algae in order to produce biodiesel.
Those who use the toilet in this experiment are compensated with cyber money. Providing 200 grams of excrement earns 36-hundred won or about over three dollars.
The cyber currency can be used at facilities within the institute's campus, such as cafes.