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| Blue Ice is a mixture of human waste and liquid disinfectant that freezes at high altitude (video below) |
January 7, 2015, NewsCrunch
Blue Ice, as frozen mixture of human waste and a liquid disinfectant is called, fell on a woman in Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh, recently.
The football-size lump came hurling down from a plane and fell on the roof of the woman’s hut. It shattered and a large piece hit her shoulder causing injury, reports The Times of India.
Blue Ice is at the heart of the modern planes’ human waste management system. Here are the top five scientific facts about it.
1) Blue Ice is a mixture of human waste and liquid disinfectant that freezes at high altitude. The name comes from the blue colour of the disinfectant.
2) It is the key by-product of modern vacuum toilet, which was first installed by Boeing in 1982. It relies on non-stick coating and vacuum suction to wash away and mix poop with a little quantity of liquid disinfectant, which freezes.
3) Before the modern vacuum toilet, onboard waste disposal was messy. Plane loos floated on large quantities of blue liquid that was prone to leaking.
4) There is no mechanism to jettison Blue Ice from the sky. But, it is known to have accidentally leaked and fell on people and objects even causing litigation.Blue Ice, as frozen mixture of human waste and a liquid disinfectant is called, fell on a woman in Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh, recently.
The football-size lump came hurling down from a plane and fell on the roof of the woman’s hut. It shattered and a large piece hit her shoulder causing injury, reports The Times of India.
Blue Ice is at the heart of the modern planes’ human waste management system. Here are the top five scientific facts about it.
1) Blue Ice is a mixture of human waste and liquid disinfectant that freezes at high altitude. The name comes from the blue colour of the disinfectant.
2) It is the key by-product of modern vacuum toilet, which was first installed by Boeing in 1982. It relies on non-stick coating and vacuum suction to wash away and mix poop with a little quantity of liquid disinfectant, which freezes.
3) Before the modern vacuum toilet, onboard waste disposal was messy. Plane loos floated on large quantities of blue liquid that was prone to leaking.
5) On landing, Blue Ice is vacuumed into a tank which is ferried by a truck and dumped safely.