Urine

A suprisingly useful aqueous mixture of several compounds.

Production

Production of urine is a natural process for most animals.

Character

• On its own, urine has a NPK rating of 0.6, 0.04 0.08
• 85% phosphoric acid is 15.2 molar, so between 500L and 1200L (130-320 gal) of urine would be required to make 1L of that acid.
• 25% ammonia (maximum non-lossy concentration) is 13.4 molar, so about 10L of urine would be required to make 1L of that solution.

  CO(NH₂)₂ + H₂O → 2 NH₃ + CO₂ // 1M urea becomes 2M ammonia

  10L (2 ammonia (0.66M urea)) = 13.4M ammonia, to be dissolved in 1L of water.

Components

The major products of interest derived from human urine are:

• Water
• Salt 3g/L (0.05M)
• Phosphorus, 0.4 to 1.0 g/L (0.013-0.032M)
• Urea, ~9.3g/L (0.66M)

Other animals' urine may also include:

• Ammonia
• Uric acid

Maximizing urea content

In the ammonia production from urine process, it is of value to maximize the urea content of urine. Simple ways to do this include:

1. Collect urine first thing in the morning - urea is produced during the night, but is not diluted by additional water (not) consumed while you sleep.
2. Collect urine within 36 hours of heavy exercise
3. Collect urine from humans eating large amounts of protein rather than carbohydrates.

Obviously all of these could be done simultaneously, given the right diet, exercise, and sleeping schedule.