Municipal Regulations
From 2014 any commercial kitchen and dishwashing facilities are required to use some sort of grease trap device to prevent grease oils and fats from reaching the public sewage.
Examples of such businesses can be Hotels, Theatres, Restaurants, Schools and Colleges, Cafes, Pubs and Inns, Conference Centres, Take Aways, Food Manufacturers, Bakeries, Golf Courses, Canteens at factories and Offices.
Check with the water authorities with your local municipality for rules and regulations.
Passive and Active Grease Traps – The Difference
A passive grease trap is normally situated underground, inside or outside the premises.
It is the oldest form of construction and is basically a big tank where the water is slowed down to let Fats, oils and grease (FOG) gradually rise to the surface and sediment and solids sink to the bottom. It is a slow procedure causing significant methane and hydrogen sulphide gases to be formed over time dispensed into the open air through ventilation.
A passive grease trap needs to be pumped out once a month, at a cost, to get rid of the FOG, sediments and solids. It is then transported to a sewage treatment plant to be recycled as fertilisers or biogas.
THOR, the active grease trap, requires little space and can easily be placed directly at the source.
The effluent first pass through a filter removing solids. The water then reaches a tank where the water is slowed down. The FOG floats up to the surface where it is directly removed with a transportation belt to be collected in the FOG container.
THOR’s unique design of the tank’s bottom lets the sediment be pumped up to the filter again until it is totally eliminated. This process prevents methane and hydrogen sulphide gases from forming.
THOR saves the environment up to 5 tonnes in Co2 emissions a year compared to a passive grease trap.
The FOGs can then be recycled as biodiesel and the solids as biogas and fertilisers.