Grease Removal:
It’s a Dirty Job and Nobody Wants to Do It

The Manual Grease Interceptor—a device that separates the FOG (fats, oils and grease) from used water—has traditionally been favored by commercial kitchens for cost and convenience, despite the introduction of an automatic version, which removes the grease without the need for human help. But new legislation, sparked perhaps by some lazy restaurant owners, is emerging that could require end users to make the switch or at least get a better system.
      
To help businesses comply, Canplas, in Barrie, Ontario, Canada, is working with some U.S. cities to develop a monitoring device that tells the user when to clean the interceptor. Andrew Bird, product manager, engineered environmental products, said if consumers want to avoid the expense of installing an automatic unit, “How about we give you this monitoring system which tells the restaurant owner when he needs to clean it?” Over any 12-month period, the restaurant owner can see when the unit’s been cleaned and how often. And it’s government-friendly too--the city inspector can look at the data and see if the restaurant owner is keeping their part of the bargain.
     
Jay R. Smith Manufacturing Co., in Montgomery, Ala., has a skimmer on the market that can be retrofitted to make any device into a grease recovery device. The Grease+Gard system, as described by marketing manager Charles White, “has a belt and heater assembly that is controlled by a 24-hour timer,” he said. “Upon a given schedule the heater warms up the water in the interceptor and the agitator helps liquefy the FOG to be extracted. The belt assembly picks up the FOG and skims it into a trough. From there it flows into a storage reservoir.”
      
But the more components a unit has, the more upkeep is required. Chris Mojacka, product engineer at Zurn Industries in Erie, Pa. , cautioned: The grease interceptor is only going to perform as well as it’s maintained. “One of the biggest problems we come across is we have no control over how people maintain them, what’s going down into that drain line.”
      
In the bells-and-whistles category, Zurn offers its Grease Recovery Appliance. “The automated grease interceptor has two different sensors designed to read capacitance of grease and let you know where it is,” Mojacka said. “It even has a remote display box that will notify the user when it’s full or almost full.”
      
Materials are also evolving. The larger capacity units are mostly made of concrete or steel, which crack and deteriorate after holding FOG for long periods. According to Charlie Ismert, sales and marketing manager for Schier Products in New Berlin, Wis., “Non-corrosive materials (like polyethylene, polypropylene and fiberglass) are the future for grease interceptors.”
      
That’s right, the future is plastics.

Grease Interceptors

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