Bioremediation: An eco-friendly solution for high-maintenance drain problems.

A dining room manager's worse nightmare: It's the holidays, and the place is booked solid for the weekend with parties--but a tangy odor of rotting garbage wafts out of the kitchen, where the floor is two-inches deep in water. A plumber is called--but it's going to cost ... a lot.

Drain maintenance isn't one of the favorite duties on a manager's list, but if neglected, a kitchen drain can cause havoc and rack up hefty plumbing bills. Biotechnology has come up with the solution: the lowly bacteria.

Bacteria is blessed with a voracious appetite for almost any waste produced by man: petroleum byproducts, industrial wastes, paint, rubber, sewage, and food waste. Strains can be created to consume only targeted substances, and then die. Bacteria can be preserved via deep-freezing or freeze-drying, then transported and stored in liquid, gel, or powder form.

Those qualities make them ideal grease-munchers, and a solution for kitchen-drain maintenance headaches.

The headaches step from one source: grease. Its hydrophobic qualities, ie., its ability to cling to pipe innards, along with its tendency to solidify when cooled, can create pockets of waste. Eventually, blockages develop. For clubs with septic systems, a flow of too much grease can destroy a drain field.

Flushing solvents, acids, and heavy surfactants are not recommended as a solution. In older clubs, where cast iron pipes are part of the infrastructure, the acids can eat away at the pipe linings. PVC pipes in newer clubs can become brittle under a chemical onslaught. Solvents and surfactants only break up the grease and send it further down the line, where it can collect again and create havoc. Or, the chemicals and the grease will gum up the municipal waste treatment facilities. For those reasons, many municipalities forbid the use of pouring heavy-duty cleaners down kitchen drains.

Grease traps are the common preventative measure for plumbing problems. Designed to slow the flow of water coming from the kitchen, grease traps are basically metal boxes that are hooked up to the drain system.

When the water is retained in the grease trap, grease rises to the top and forms a mat. Solids settle to the bottom. The clarified water flows through the middle of the box into the wastewater or septic system. Eventually, if the grease trap is not cleaned out, the greasy top layer and the waste layer on bottom merge. When that happens, water--and all the grease and wastes--flow directly into the pipes.

But grease-trap maintenance requires dedication and vigilance by a kitchen manager. The trap must be regularly cleaned out and checked to ensure everything is flowing properly. That duty is universally despised and avoided by kitchen staff, so a manager must constantly follow up to confirm that the job is done.

Captured grease must be properly disposed, which means dipping it into a bucket or barrel, sealing the container, and then putting it in a dumpster. The task must be timed with the trash disposal schedule because grease will create a distinctive stench if left in the dumpster for several days.

Liquid-waste haulers can be hired to regularly clean the grease traps. But their fees, which are rising as regulations tighten and landfill charges increase, can eat into the bottom line.

Grease traps also smell no matter how often they are cleaned. On a golf course or at a recreational club, where customers roam the grounds, the odor from an outside trap can become an issue for members. The odor stems from the bacterium that collects naturally around kitchen waste.

Biotechnology companies are putting those same bacteria to work. Bacteria, as they eat, break up grease molecules by breaking the bond between the glycerol and fatty acids, then breaking up the bonds in the fatty acids. Eventually, all that is left is carbon dioxide and water.

There are products that are sold as drain-cleaners with bacteria. But their use is frowned on. "We don't recommend just pouring bacteria products down the drain to control grease," said Bill Whitehead, executive director of the Plumbing and Drainage Institute, an industry association of plumbing equipment manufacturers.

Part of that stems from the false claims of some drain cleaners are actually heavy-duty solvents and acids, marketed as biological products.

And other biotechnology products use enzyme-based cleansers. "Enzymes are pretty much a no-no in our industry now," said Dale Kalina, president and chief executive of BioLogix Systems, of St. Louis, MO. As ingredients for grease-fighting chemicals, enzymes are ineffective because they simply break up the grease, which just recollects and solidifies further along in the wastewater stream. For that reason, some towns--like Vancouver--ban the use of biotechnology products.

But a new breed of biotechnology--or bioremediation or bioaugmentation--services are being touted as an improvement from these products. Instead of selling the bacteria-based products for kitchen staff to apply, these new biotechnology firms sell services that include the installation of injection systems, supplemented with regular visits by technicians.

The services work like this: firms create their own strains of bacteria that were selected for their ability to eat grease, their tendency to cling to pipe interiors, as well as their ability to survive in temperatures ranging from 50 to 120 degrees, amid heavy concentrations of chlorine and detergents.

Typically, a system--usually a pump and a five-gallon bucket full of bacteria--is installed in the drain line near the grease trap. The pump, Which is powered by battery or electrical outlet, secretes bacteria in pre-set times.

Alternatively, Jay R. Smith Mfg. Co. markets a grease trap with its own injection system and reservoir incorporated in the design. When the reservoir runs out of bacteria, a light flashes on in the kitchen to remind staff to replenish it.

The bacterium has two functions: it digests and clears accumulated blockages in the line. And the bacterium forms a colony (a single mass of bacterium) in or around the grease trap, where the colony consumes the waste. In a bacteria colony, the outer exterior layer of bacteria might suffer from any drastic changes in water flow, temperature or detergent concentration, but the interior layers will survive.

Biotechnology firms claim they can prevent clogs and reduce odors and the frequency of grease-trap cleanouts. However, they are careful to never say that they eliminate the need for grease trap cleanings. Even with the expense of regular maintenance and checkup visits, biotechnology firms argue that their services are worth it because of the reduction in liquid-waste hauling fees and plumbing bills.

The new biotechnology companies argue that they save managers time and aggravation by doing the task. Since biotechnology technicians bring their own supplies on their visits, instead of storing supplies onsite, the hassle and odor of storing cleaning supplies is gone.

Environmental Biotech, of Sarasota, FL, is one of the biological-warfare companies that works with private clubs, restaurants, food processors, and other food-service facilities.

Environmental Biotech technicians will typically, on the first visit, do a survey of a restaurant's drain system. In an older establishment, where drainage problems are more likely to be seen, technicians will use fiber-optic cameras to check for any blockages or potential problem areas. The cameras capture their forays down the drains on VCR tape. Radio locators can be used to track the exact location of the problems. If there are blockages, technicians send jetters down the drains to unblock them with heavy blasts of water.

For new clubs, or clubs that have just undergone renovation, Environmental Biotech will do a survey of the drains to spot any future problem areas or find blockages created by construction waste.

A technician will install a system on the drain line, then return every two weeks to replace the reservoir and hand-apply bacteria in problem areas, like floor drains.

Depending on the drain and its contents, Environmental Biotech technicians will apply different strains of bacteria. At the bar and soda machines, for example, a special bacteria can be applied to take care of the sugar that collects and crystallizes in the drains, creating a funky odor from the fermentation and eventually blocking the drains.

In the same areas, chemicals will be applied to kill the mold that erupts around condensation.

Environmental Biotech charges a monthly fee for the service visits done every 14 days, with the fees ranging on the size and number of systems. Most small clubs need a small system--a reservoir of a five-gallon bucket--which can run about $150 a month. That includes the two-week visits and hand treatments. There is an additional charge for handling the bar area and emergency visits.

The Sarasota Yacht Club tried out Environmental Biotech with a one-year contract as an experiment in tackling its grease-induced plumbing problems. Now, instead of pumping out the grease trap almost every month, the club empties it out on quarterly basis. And, "If we do have any kind of problem and we have to have plumbing work done to relieve a backup, if there's any grease involved in it, the company (Environmental Biotech) pays the bill," said Benjamin Bell, CCM, general manager of the Sarasota Yacht Club.

BioLogix Systems sells its services as insurance against plumbing hassles. "We're actually cheaper than what would you pay in product costs and emergency costs," the company's president said.

A BioLogix technician will clean out the grease trap and install a pump on the initial visit, then check up on it every two weeks to remove solids that have settled, and if necessary, pump it out. On the visits, the technician will hand-apply biological products in problem areas like floor drains, dining room service stations and bus stations. If a plumbing emergency occurs because of grease buildup, BioLogix plumbers will respond immediately. If the plumbing problem doesn't stem from grease problems, BioLogix will charge a "proprietary customer rate" for the emergency repairs.

Cost savings of biotechnology services can vary, depending on factors such as the menu, size of the grease trap, and whether good kitchen management practices are followed.

Environmental Biotech recommends that kitchens disconnect their garbage disposals and instead, train staff to scrape all waste into trash bins as a way to control the solids flowing into drains. With good kitchen management and the bacteria treatments, an average club or restaurant can stretch out the grease trap cleaning to every six to 12 months, estimates Bill Hadley, president and chief executive of Environmental Biotech.

Good kitchen management practices and proper drain and grease trap design are the keys to ensuring that biotechnology services like these are effective. A 20-week study conducted by the Department of Public Utilities for Henrico County, VA, concluded that an effective biotechnology program must include the following:

* an initial, thorough pumping of the grease trap

* covered drains with inserts to stop plastic forks and spoons and other solid waste from accumulating in the trap

* proper design of the grease traps to ensure long enough water retention time in the trap

* proper application of the biological product and regular monitoring by a qualified technician

For more information on bioremediation, contact BioLogix at 314/ 423-1885; The Plumbing & Drainage Institute at 800/589-8956; Environmental BioTech at 941/ 358-9112; and Jay R. Smith Mfg Co. at 334/ 213-8758.