Li, Lucinda

Lucinda is a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan and works with Dr. Nancy Love and Dr. Krista Wigginton. She completed her Bachelor of Science...

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About Li, Lucinda

Lucinda is a PhD candidate at the University of Michigan and works with Dr. Nancy Love and Dr. Krista Wigginton. She completed her Bachelor of Science in environmental engineering at Cornell University in 2018. Her research interests are centered around the topic of resource recovery from wastewater. She currently works on evaluating risks and benefits of source separating human urine from wastewater and processing it into a safe fertilizer. Her other research interests include developing and evaluating novel biochemical processes for wastewater treatment and improving access to sanitation and safe drinking water. Through this work, she strives to work at the interface between academic research and industry implementation of technologies to improve community access to resources.

Li, Lucinda

Titles from this speaker

Comparing virus emissions from urine diverting and mix flush toilets

Abstract

Flushing a toilet can emit and expose users to virus-laden droplets and aerosols. Virus emissions can differ between a mix flush and a urine diverting toilet which separates urine from feces. The separation of urine-associated and enteric viruses offers an opportunity to study these viruses and their different surrounding fluid environment. We developed a method to capture and compare emissions from flushing a urine diverting and a mix flush toilet. We used MS2 and T3 as surrogate viruses for enteric- and urine-associated viruses, respectively, and conducted experiments to evaluate how protein levels in the virus solution affect emissions. We found that toilet flushing can emit up to 1.22E+04 pfu MS2 and 1.41E+03 pfu T3 from the mix flush toilet and up to 1.46E+03 pfu MS2 and 1.80E+02 pfu T3 from the urine diverting toilet when 1010 pfu of MS2 and T3 were seeded into the toilets. Additionally, high protein levels in the virus solution increased virus emissions under certain conditions.

Flushing a toilet can emit and expose users to virus-laden droplets and aerosols. Toilet emissions differ by toilet type and design. In this study, we quantified virus emissions from a mix flush and a urine diverting toilet, which separates urine from feces. The separation of urine-associated and enteric viruses offers an opportunity to study these viruses and their different surrounding fluid environment. By comparing emissions from two types of toilets, we aimed to better understand how viruses are emitted from a toilet flush and how protein content in the virus mixture can impact emissions.

SpeakerLi, Lucinda

Presentation time

13:30:00

13:45:00

Session time

13:30:00

15:00:00

SessionSpotlight on COVID-19: Wastewater Risks and Unknowns

Session number302

TopicDisinfection and Public Health, Facility Operations and Maintenance, Research and Innovation, Safety and Security

Author(s)

Lucinda Li

Author(s)J. Cai1; L. Li1; N.G. Love1; K. Wigginton1;

Author affiliation(s)Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI1

SourceProceedings of the Water Environment Federation

Document typeConference Paper

PublisherWater Environment Federation

Print publication date Oct 2021

DOI10.2175/193864718825158058

Volume / Issue

Content sourceWEFTEC

Word count11

Base text size -

Li, Lucinda

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