Food is the fuel that everyone needs to basically maintain the main functions of the body so that daily activities can be performed. It is a commodity that is consumed every single day to help the body recuperate from the day’s stresses and to protect it from pathogens that are present everywhere. Food is important. It’s not just the amount of food but most especially, the quality of food that you take in and process. For the amount of food that we process, we as humans must cleans ourselves. That same goes for food processing plant grease trap cleaning. How is that accomplished?
Most of the foods bought and consumed these days are processed. This is mainly to extend the shelf life, to fortify the items with vitamins and minerals, and to enable them to withstand the shipment process from its origin to its destination market while maintaining freshness. With food processing, many people have had their health conditions improved especially when it comes to maintaining an ideal diet.
Food processing plants should ideally be a sterile manufacturing environment because it handles and processes food. Everybody wants food that’s clean and uncontaminated. This is the primary goal of every food processing plant in the US. But lately, these plants are making the FOG (fats, oils, grease) crisis worse. Every state has a pretreatment or a grease ordinance that is mandatory for all food processing plants. The ordinance requires that an appropriately-sized grease trap or grease interceptor should be installed within the processing plant’s premises. The grease trap should be registered and maintained. The grease material collected should be hauled by licensed professionals only. Inspections will be regularly made by representatives of the City Sewer Department to make sure that the food processing plant’s management adheres to the ordinance.
The pretreatment process done with the grease trap is a means to control the amount of FOG that’s discharged into the wastewater. This protects the sewer lines from being blocked by the FOG and therefore prevents the occurrence of wastewater backups into the food processing plant. It would result in an extremely contaminated food processing plant. It would most probably be shut down until the problem is completely resolved.
It’s not enough that the food processing plant has a grease trap to separate the FOG and solid wastes from the untreated effluent. Food processing plant grease trap cleaning should be performed on a regular basis. This should be accompanied by regular inspection and monitoring to see to it that the level of combined solid wastes and FOG is well under control.
Food processing plant grease trap cleaning should not use chemicals or enzymes. These substances merely emulsify the FOG and enable it to mix in with the untreated effluent. The FOG then solidifies in the pipelines and blocks the wastewater. They may seem to be very potent in doing the job, but they result to a much more aggravating situation.
Bacteria through the processes of bioaugmentation and bioremediation should be used. In bioaugmentation, a selected strain of non-pathogenic bacteria is used in getting rid of the FOG and other contaminants. In bioremediation, non-pathogenic bacteria are used to transform the contaminants including FOG into much less harmful forms. Bacteria are highly recommended because they are naturally-occurring organisms that do not have chemical discharges that pollute the environment. They also eliminate the foul smells of the grease trap.
There are bacteria blocks, bacteria pumps, liquid bacteria, powdered bacteria, and bacteria tablets that can be used according to preference and budget. Bacteria blocks are tied into the grease trap and allowed to dissolve. Its dissolution time depends on its size. Bacteria pumps provide bacteria doses at time intervals that are programmed. Liquid bacteria are simply poured into the grease trap. Powdered bacteria are very convenient to store and ship out. Bacteria tablets contain aerobic bacteria, buffers, active oxygen, and nutrients into the grease trap. These components are released slowly for extended effect.
Using bacteria in food processing plant grease trap removal is really the most practical and the most efficient way to avoid health and environmental problems within the state and within the country. Bacteria are, by far, the ultimate weapons against FOG.