Clearing the FOG – Reclaiming Advanced Biofuel from Fats, Oils and Grease

by Ron Crosier (Downey Ridge Environmental Company/Biofuels Digest) ... Critics of biofuels argue that biofuel feedstocks require vast amounts of arable land, water and other resources that would otherwise be used for food production. ... However, a new means for generating biofuel focuses on reclaiming advanced biofuel from waste products. The process concurrently addresses a growing fiscal and environmental problem with FOG while generating advanced biofuel and reducing dependence upon fossil fuels.

Additionally, when grease trap waste is dewatered and landfilled (a common treatment method used by haulers), all of that landfilled grease trap waste becomes methane and is released into the atmosphere as a very potent greenhouse gas.

Problems caused by FOG in the sewer system not only affect the performance of wastewater treatment facilities but also financially impact communities from cleanup due to pipe blockages, sewer backups or burst pipes. FOG is a serious and growing problem for the wastewater industry and the environment. Every year, grease costs municipalities billions of dollars in clogs, equipment damage, and sewer line repair. Not only is FOG costly to handle and remove, but it is also the number one cause of sewer backups.

The EPA estimates that the annual production of collected grease trap waste and uncollected grease entering sewage treatment facilities ranges from 800 to 17,000 pounds per restaurant, per year. Combined with the grease entering pipes from private homes and other industrial sources, and the massive amount of FOG accumulating in sewer lines leaves wastewater facilities struggling to remove and dispose of FOG before backups occur.

From Grease2Green

An innovative solution for FOG, Downey Ridge Environmental Company developed Greasezilla, a hydronic thermal separation and conversion technology to manage FOG while reclaiming an advanced biofuel. Greasezilla is designed to pretreat grease trap waste trucked to treatment facilities. The system removes nearly all grease at the front end without the need for polymers, flocculants or landfilling.

The separation technology prevents the introduction of FOG into plants that inhibits operations. Greasezilla allows medium-sized publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) to accept grease trap waste from haulers, generating tipping fees, encouraging grease trap maintenance, and lowering costs for haulers while also generating revenue from the sale of the commodity brown grease.

The brown grease separation technology delivers a very low moisture, high FFA brown grease offtake, ideal as a substitute for fuel oil #5 and #6 or for use as a biodiesel feedstock. Greasezilla’s advanced biofuel, recovered from grease trap waste, is being converted into biodiesel through a joint venture with REA Resource Recovery Systems, LLC, which will be used by municipalities to fuel municipal fleets.

The patented heating system is easily scalable and is powered by the biofuel it produces, making it a practical and environmentally sound solution for generating biofuel from FOG. READ MORE