Almost five hundred thousand tonnes of grease and fat go into the UK sewerage process each year. Grease sticks to pipe walls, that may ultimately result in blockages while fatty acids & oils harm waste water treatment products, costing municipalities huge numbers in maintenance each year. When permitted to get into an all natural water course, fatty acids, grease and oils (FOG) is able to lead to severe harm to the planet.
For these reasons, legislation assuring the proper FOG management is utilized by food service operators has become being greatly enforced. Polluters are able to face large fines or perhaps closure if FOG waste is not managed efficiently. FOG likewise leads to huge issues within professional kitchens, with FOG from wastewater causing blockages in inner pipes bringing about costly repairs and possible tools downtime.
Fortunately, grease management systems like grease traps can easily be bought. They are usually the first choice FOG management solution for home operators but what exactly are they and just how can they work?
What’s a grease trap?
Grease traps have existed for over hundred years and are often known as grease interceptors, catchers, converters, grease recovery / management devices or maybe FOG traps. They are used in in a broad range of locations including:
Restaurants
Cafes
Takeaways
Pubs, and bars inns
Hotels
Colleges and schools
Bakeries
In order to place it just, a grease trap is a receptacle into what wastewater containing FOG moves through prior to entering a drainage method. The receptacle is created to intercept and “trap” the FOG while letting water that is clear to escape.
Just how does a grease trap work?
Grease traps function on the foundation that animal fats and vegetable oils (grease) are ten to fifteen % less dense compared to water which grease will not mix with clean water. Consequently, fat and oils float in addition to water.
When wastewater enters a grease trap, the flow rate is lowered enough and so the wastewater is given time that is enough to cool and also sort into three layers. The grease rises to the best within the interceptor and it is trapped using a method of baffles. Solids settle at the end and also the separated distinct water escapes under an outlet baffle. A lot of grease traps uk have strainers for collecting sound debris, which cuts down on the quantity of solids which settle in the bottom part of the trap.
Over grease build-up, solids, and time, of course, if left to gather for long enough they are able to begin to escape through the outlet and in certain conditions, they are able to back up over the inlet. Because of this, the hole should be cleaned / pumped outside on a routine schedule.
The moment between cleaning or pumping out the hole is going to depend on the quantity of wastewater created as well as the dimensions of the grease trap though it’s normally every 2 4 weeks. This particular time-period could be lengthened to up to eight days by including a natural grease treatment fluid into the device. The remedy combines non pathogenic bacteria with enzymes and also nutrients for breaking down FOG, aiding grease trap performance. This process is generally called “dosing”.
Dosing can additionally be applied in the outlet stage like an additional approach to preventing FOG build up in internal piping.