Anyone that’s cooked bacon knows how much grease it makes. I Googled how much grease is in uncooked bacon, and as best as I could find out, by weight, more than 2/3 of a piece of bacon is fat. So, it’s no surprise when raw bacon is cured at a processing plant a lot of grease is generated. Every evening at a major processor of bacon, they wash down the processing plant, cleaning up the days waste. You can imagine how much Fat Oil and Grease (FOG) is in the water after wash down. To avoid costly surcharges, this processor removes as much of the FOG from the wash water they can prior to sending it to their local municipal wastewater plant for treatment.
We all know grease is lighter than water, so whenever the grease laden wash water enters a quiescent zone tank, the grease separates and floats to the top. And, here it stays. Once this scum layer of FOG is floating on top of the tank, it’s nearly impossible to get it back into the water.
This is what was happening in this wash water EQ tank. Over time the layer of scum on the top of the would grow thicker and thicker, more than foot thick. Every 3 months they would bring in a contractor to break up the scum layer with a high pressure water jet at a cost of around $4,000.
While this got them by, it was very disruptive to their wastewater treatment process. So, they went looking for a more permanent solution. And, they found it with the Landia AeriGator. Taking advantage of Landia’s Trial-To-Buy program, they were able to prove the AeriGator would solve their heavy scum problem prior to buying it.
The Trial-To-Buy test began on August 28th. By August 29th they were pretty sure the AeriGator was the solution they were looking for. The combination of the air and water in the high energy jet provided the horizontal and vertical mixing energy needed to break up the very heavy scum layer.
The Trial-To Buy ended with the bacon processor purchasing the AeriGator. And, all the Trial-To-Buy costs were applied to the purchase price of the unit.
Bacon processors aren’t the only ones that have problems with FOG and a heavy scum layers in their system. The good news is the Trial-To-Buy program is still in effect. I would love to show you what the AeriGator can do for you in your problem lift station or wet well. Let’s talk.
Smith Environmental 