1. How is FOG/ brown grease waste from food establishments handled currently in the US?
By ‘pumping and dumping”. There are city and county ordinances in every state that mandateeach food establishment to maintain grease traps or grease interceptors to collect thewastewater from kitchen drains (dishwashers, sinks, etc.). Periodic vacuum pumping removes(moves the problem) this waste liquid to either a wastewater treatment plant or a landfill, and is even sometimes illegally dumped.
Costly to the business owner
Risk of spill /overflow of grease interceptor
Foul and potentially toxic gases
Emulsified grease can still enter the sewer line
Moving the problem, involving polluting vehicles
Not aesthetic to customers at the business site
What happens to the waste the haulers dump in the landfill? How much is going into landfills and does it biodegrade?
2. Why do we need to find a better way to manage the FOG/ brown grease waste?
To protect our environmental and public health, especially our beaches and other watersheds from sewage spills, many caused by grease blockages.
To offload our aging and outdated municipal wastewater treatment plants which have not kept up with urban development and must process the grease waste if it is not dumped in a landfill.
To protect our environment by offloading landfills where much of this grease waste is dumped and takes hundreds of years to biodegrade.
To assist restaurant/food establishment business owners who are responsible for the waste they create and need affordable disposal services.
To recycle the water the waste liquids contain so it can be re-used, saving costs and providing a source where water is scarce or rationed.
To responsibly care for our environment by using the most sustainable methods available to manage waste.
3. Why not turn the brown (FOG) waste into biofuel, isn’t that the most sustainable disposal method available today?
Compared to the Hydrologix GRS solution we do not think this is the most sustainable method. Firstly, there are two types of restaurant grease waste. “Brown grease” is grease waste from kitchen drains that enters sewer systems or is removed from a grease trap or grease interceptor. This is much harder to turn into fuel. “Yellow grease” refers to cooking grease or fryer oil that is recycled and is not disposed of in the sewer system. This is fairly easy to recycle into fuel as it is “pure” oil. Processing biodiesel from brown grease is not commercially viable yet and may not be affordable for some years to come. Plus, this process uses up a lot of energy, requires pumping trucks, as well as still leaving the restaurant owners with the problems of odor and risk of overflows.
4. What are the advantages of using the GreenTek Hydrologix GRS service?
The Hydrologix GRS is a service that entirely prevents grease entering the overburdened sewer system and landfills, bioremediating it at the source.
Affordable to the business owner
Economically feasible as it replaces the pumping service already budgeted for
No pumping (or at most, very infrequent) and no hauling to landfills or biodiesel plants
Sustainable because the problem is dealt with at the source, where the problem is created and the output is CO2 and water. Polluting and energy consuming vehicles transporting the waste away become obsolete. It is no longer dumped in landfills.
Very little energy (electricity) is used in the Hydrologix bioremediation process. Power for pumps and an internet connection is all that is required.
Gray water output is potentially re-usable for landscape watering.
Emusified fats are bioremediated whereas they are not with the conventional pumping solution which allows this mix to enter the sewer line.
Hydrologix is the first to achieve commercial success with this type of waste management.
5. How can the water produced be re-used?
The output of grey water from the Hydrologix GRS process, is easily recycled into irrigation water, a huge advantage in water scarce regions and/or where public water is expensive.
Think of the many hotels and resorts maintaining golf courses in Southern California alone. Water is arguably our most precious resource and possibly deserves a higher focus from us than biofuels. For example, see the following recent news, predicting more drought in California in 2009:
“CA water agencies told to prepare for dry ’09 – 10/31/2008 2:45:29 PM
SACRAMENTO, CA — *More than 25 million Californians will be under stricter water rationing, following an October 30 California Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) announcement http://www.water.ca.gov/news/newsreleases/2008/103008allocation.doc
6. Why is Hydrologix the only one to successfully do this, after all using bacteria for bioremediation is nothing new?
The Hydrologix technology puts living creatures to work in one of the harshest, foulest environments. Keeping the microorganisms thriving and ready to digest the restaurant’s waste liquids (organic and chemical) instantly and on the spot( “in situ” )in the grease interceptor, is the challenge.
This foul wastewater from food establishment kitchens’ drains is:
Corrosive: dissolves Stainless Steel pipes in a matter of weeks
Extremely hot: high temperatures up to 140 degrees F
Fast moving: influx force is such that retention time* can be as short as 30 minutes
How does the Hydrologix blend of living organisms thrive and digest FOG in restaurant grease
interceptor wastewater, when time is so short and the conditions are so harsh?
FAQ
1. How is FOG/ brown grease waste from food establishments handled currently in the US?
By ‘pumping and dumping”. There are city and county ordinances in every state that mandateeach food establishment to maintain grease traps or grease interceptors to collect thewastewater from kitchen drains (dishwashers, sinks, etc.). Periodic vacuum pumping removes(moves the problem) this waste liquid to either a wastewater treatment plant or a landfill, and is even sometimes illegally dumped.
2. Why do we need to find a better way to manage the FOG/ brown grease waste?
3. Why not turn the brown (FOG) waste into biofuel, isn’t that the most sustainable disposal method available today?
Compared to the Hydrologix GRS solution we do not think this is the most sustainable method. Firstly, there are two types of restaurant grease waste. “Brown grease” is grease waste from kitchen drains that enters sewer systems or is removed from a grease trap or grease interceptor. This is much harder to turn into fuel. “Yellow grease” refers to cooking grease or fryer oil that is recycled and is not disposed of in the sewer system. This is fairly easy to recycle into fuel as it is “pure” oil. Processing biodiesel from brown grease is not commercially viable yet and may not be affordable for some years to come. Plus, this process uses up a lot of energy, requires pumping trucks, as well as still leaving the restaurant owners with the problems of odor and risk of overflows.
4. What are the advantages of using the GreenTek Hydrologix GRS service?
5. How can the water produced be re-used?
“CA water agencies told to prepare for dry ’09 – 10/31/2008 2:45:29 PM
SACRAMENTO, CA — *More than 25 million Californians will be under stricter water rationing, following an October 30 California Department of Water Resources’ (DWR) announcement
http://www.water.ca.gov/news/newsreleases/2008/103008allocation.doc
6. Why is Hydrologix the only one to successfully do this, after all using bacteria for bioremediation is nothing new?
The Hydrologix technology puts living creatures to work in one of the harshest, foulest environments. Keeping the microorganisms thriving and ready to digest the restaurant’s waste liquids (organic and chemical) instantly and on the spot( “in situ” )in the grease interceptor, is the challenge.
This foul wastewater from food establishment kitchens’ drains is:
How does the Hydrologix blend of living organisms thrive and digest FOG in restaurant grease
interceptor wastewater, when time is so short and the conditions are so harsh?
The answer is our patented technology…