Faecal sludge solids are a valuable resource rich in nutrients and organics which could provide circular economic opportunities for local communities as a fertiliser or fuel. However, the high water content of faecal sludge matrices remains a challenge causing high transport costs and diluting the resource recovery potential. Current water removal processes such as thickening, dewatering and drying remain inaccessible due to large footprints, high energy demand and fouling due to sticky sludge. This is because a large proportion of faecally derived wastewater contains water which is bound mechanically, physically, chemically or intracellularly to the solid phase, and requires additional energy for its release.This project examines treatment methods to convert bound water to free water within a novel matrix – non-sewered sanitation faecal sludge. Releasing bound water influences the overall treatability of sludge. Sludge is not only easier to dewater and dry, but benefits from improved flowability and reduced stickiness. The treatments will cover a range of bound water disrupting mechanisms adapted from sewage sludge such as extracellular polymeric substances disintegration; cell lysis; surface charge regulation and particle aggregation. The selected treatments will be benchmarked at lab scale, while measuring changes in influencing physico-chemical factors, bound water proportions and performance indices (dewaterability, drying, stickiness and rheology). As part of a collaborative effort with material and sludge process experts from Cranfield University and Birmingham University in the UK, and the University of Melbourne, Australia, this project will demonstrate sludge treatment solutions which could enable an economically sustainable sanitation chain in South Africa and beyond.