THE SANITARY MARKET FOR BIOLOGICALLY ACTIVE SEED CULTURES

The market for biologically active cultures includes grease traps, down lines/stacks, sewage treatment plants and septic tanks. These special cultures comprise products which introduce into these systems highly efficient, non-hazardous microbial blends that produce and excrete large amounts of waste-eating enzymes. This phenomenon makes possible economical management of the waste treatment facility whether it be a large municipal waste-treatment plant or, a small restaurant grease trap. It is essential these products have adequate numbers of the specific microbe(s) which will perform this function and not just large numbers of organisms that do not produce the necessary enzymes.

GREASE TRAP BASICS

Grease used in restaurant cooking is fluid when hot. When this liquid grease is poured into a drain, it cools and solidifies, thereby reducing the flow. Why not put a collector in the line where the grease can solidify and prevent problems in the drain line? This collector is placed at some distance from the kitchen (usually buried outside so it can be reached for pumping) where the grease cools enough to solidify and this arrangement is termed a grease trap. These grease traps soon fill up with grease and prevent further flow down the line. This causes a backup all the way to the kitchen and produces a sanitation problem. These problems arise when the grease traps has not been pumped periodically. Unfortunately, this often happens at the busiest time.

In the beginning, the grease trap was cleaned manually. This could be termed the FIRST WAVE -- shovel & bucket. Soon, someone found that these traps could be pumped out and the contents discarded or recycled. This realization lead to the: SECOND WAVE -- mechanical.

The SECOND WAVE was effective but considerably more expensive because an outside contractor was involved in correcting the problem. A modification involved periodic cleaning on a regular schedule. This modification eliminated the panic situations but was even more costly.

Pumping was necessary weekly for a busy restaurant and several times a year for the smallest eatery. With the increase in populations, restaurants, etc., the quantity of grease became more of a problem for disposal. Periodic pumping kept most grease traps from backing up, but where to put this pumped mess?

Enter the THIRD WAVE—microbial treatment The cost of pumping was becoming too expensive, mainly because of disposal fees. What to do? Could the amount of grease be reduced? Efforts were made to collect the grease in barrels before it went into the drain lines. But, still the problem persisted. How about trying to reduce the amount of grease by the use enzymes or chemical degreasers? Grease is difficult to metabolize and the enzyme lipase is known to attack grease, but this enzyme is too expensive. Chemical degreasers add undesirable, poisonous chemicals to the waste stream. How about adding microbes which can attack the grease?

At the time, biological products for septic tanks were available. These products when introduced into a grease trap worked partially, but enough so to stimulate further testing with more powerful products. From this, THIRD WAVE products for grease traps were developed. They kept the grease level down but, there were other problems. Mainly, the products were not stable and produced gas in their containers causing leaks and handling problems. Further studies by American Biosystems,Inc. resulted in two innovations: 1. Use of stable spore-forming bacteria which produce large amounts of digestive enzymes, and 2. Sophisticated formulation ingredients which eliminate gas production. These advances have lead to MAINTAIN-L being applied through a metering device and such became known as the--FOURTH WAVE . This product is stable, generates large amounts of digestive enzymes and does not produce gas in the storage container.

DOWN LINES/STACKS

Tall apartment/office/hotel buildings have down lines/stacks which allow odors, etc. from kitchens and bathrooms to escape to the roof and into the atmosphere. These down lines start in a sump in the basement to collect any water which might get into the pipe. Often, these sumps have a pump to the sewer line in case the sump gets too full. Often, the sump and sewer line becomes clogged with grease. Use of MAINTAIN D (dry formulation) or MAINTAIN L (liquid formulation) on a regular basis will reduce these blockages and odors. Follow label directions.

ACCELOBAC^®

ACCELOBAC^® is designed specifically for use in industrial and municipal waste treatment plants. In most places almost all sewage plants are overloaded because of increasing populations and the rise of affluence. Some have been expanded by very expensive concrete and steel additions, but these are temporary and must be repeated at even more cost to the taxpayers.

WHAT CAN BE DONE? When a plant becomes overloaded, the hydraulic residence time (interval of time waste is in the plant from influent to effluent) becomes shorter, e.g. twice as much flow = one half the resident time and one half the reduction of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)., assuming a similar dissolved oxygen (DO)level can be maintained. If there were adequate DO and residence time, the indigenous microorganisms present would do a satisfactory job. This is not the case.

WHAT TO DO? Another problem related to poor waste digestion is lack of sufficient settling in the digesters. This is because the waste particles have not been adequately digested and still retain an electrostatic charge sufficient to repel them. Use of ACCELOBAC^®  in the digester will digest more waste thereby reducing this static charge which allows the particles to clump together and settle.

If the dissolved oxygen and residence time are minimal and can’t be adequately increased, there is only one avenue and that is to replace the less efficient indigenous microorganisms with those more efficient in ACCELOBAC^® . This product contains a mixture of efficient microorganisms which after introduction, develop a dominant position and reduce discharge parameters.

Use ACCELOBAC^®  at regular intervals introduced into the system as specified on the label. This product is a special formulation of MAINTAIN-D designed especially for sewage treatment where the dilution volume is large.

SINKS/TOILETS/LINES

Regular use of MAINTAIN D or MAINTAIN L will reduce clogging and odors. Housekeepers - put 10 ml. of Liquid or 10 grams of dry into each drain everyday that the facility is used. Easy-to-use measuring devices are provided.

RESTORE and RESTORE L are non-microbial enzyme products designed to degrade wastes and odors where live bacteria are not desirable as in disinfected areas of food preparation areas and hospitals.

For more information, on the Nugen NS Series, click here.