Performance of Grease Abatement Systems

Grease abatement systems (GAS) are relatively small devices located close to the discharging sink within the food service establishment (FSE). GASs are used in FSEs across the country as a frontline of fats, oils and grease (FOG) removal. GASs are flow based devices located under the sink within the FSE that are generally smaller than 25 gallon volume. Currently, no research has been performed to challenge and assess the efficiency of the FOG removal of these devices. This study seeks to understand and quantify the removal performance of these GAS devices under intermittent flow conditions and emulsion strength. In this study tests were performed under three emulsion strengths (weak, medium and strong), two influent temperatures (70°F and 100°F) and two flow rates (5 and 10 gpm). The results of this study clearly showed a decreased removal performance with increasing flow rate and increasing emulsion strength, which is not captured with the current Plumbing and Drainage Institute (PDI) rating protocol.