The forthcoming international standard for fecal sludge treatment units, ISO/PC 318 requires technologies to exhibit energy neutrality and satisfaction of pathogen threshold values. Research and development efforts at Biomass Controls focus on compliance with this standard. This involves the development of an energy flow analysis and research into the time-temperature relationships required for complete pathogen inactivation. The results of these efforts have yielded that thermal treatment units should be capable of achieving energy neutrality in steady state using only the energy contained in fecal sludge and that pyrolysis/combustion temperatures are adequate for complete pathogen inactivation.