Grease Interceptor with Nested Hydrocarbon Trap
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional grease traps are inefficient in capturing hydrocarbon pollutants like fats, oils, and greases from waste streams, leading to environmental contamination and high maintenance costs, as they require frequent emptying and disposal, which can result in fines and increased infrastructure maintenance.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a grease interceptor with a solids trap and a hydrocarbon contaminant trap, where the waste stream passes through a solids trap to separate particulate material and then into a reservoir with a hydrocarbon trap that sequesters pollutants, allowing for mechanical or manual removal of the trapped materials using a vacuum, reducing the volume of waste stream liquid required for disposal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional grease traps are used to contain waste water, then hydrocarbon pollutants can be separated, but the traps require frequent emptying and disposal of large volumes of waste stream liquid, increasing maintenance costs and environmental burden
Solution Approach 1:
The grease trap is divided into multiple functional zones: a separation chamber where hydrocarbons separate from waste water, a containment chamber for collected hydrocarbons, and a return line system. This segmentation allows targeted removal of only the pollutant layer rather than disposing of entire volumes of waste stream liquid, directly resolving the contradiction between capture efficiency and waste liquid disposal volume
Solution Approach 2:
A hydrocarbon-specific absorbent material or coalescing medium acts as an intermediary between the waste water and the containment chamber. This intermediary selectively captures hydrocarbon pollutants while allowing most waste stream liquid to remain in the system or be safely discharged, reducing the volume requiring disposal while maintaining high pollutant capture efficiency
2Volume of moving object
If grease traps are positioned underground for space efficiency, then installation space is optimized, but access for maintenance and emptying becomes difficult and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The grease trap incorporates a nested structure where a removable inner containment chamber is positioned within the main underground trap body. This nested design allows the inner chamber to be extracted through a limited access opening in the underground installation, enabling maintenance personnel to remove and service the pollutant collection chamber without requiring complete excavation or complex disassembly, thus maintaining space efficiency while improving maintenance accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
The grease trap incorporates a dynamic removable lid or access mechanism that can be opened from the surface or through a minimal excavation point. This dynamic element transforms the static underground structure into a system with flexible access points, allowing easy removal of the inner containment chamber for maintenance while preserving the compact underground installation footprint
3Device complexity
If conventional passive baffle systems are used, then device complexity is minimized, but pollutant capture efficiency is insufficient, allowing significant contaminants to pass through
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the hydrocarbon separation function from the simple passive baffle system and concentrates it in a dedicated containment chamber with enhanced separation mechanisms. This extraction allows the rest of the system to remain simple while the specialized chamber provides high-efficiency pollutant capture, resolving the contradiction between device simplicity and capture efficiency by concentrating complexity only where needed
Solution Approach 2:
The grease trap applies different structural qualities to different zones: the inlet and outlet areas maintain simple conduit designs, while the separation and containment chambers incorporate specialized internal structures such as coalescing plates, absorbent media, or controlled flow distributors. This local differentiation of structural quality achieves high pollutant capture efficiency in critical zones while keeping overall device complexity low in non-critical areas
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This system significantly reduces the amount of pollutants entering water networks, decreases maintenance costs by minimizing the volume of waste stream liquid collected, and allows for the recycling or reuse of recovered hydrocarbons, such as in biodiesel production.
Implementation Method 1
solid residues to settle
Implementation Method 2
physical treatment processes include gravity separation
Implementation Method 3
at least one contaminant trap in direct fluid communication with the at least one inlet for removing one or more hydrocarbon pollutants from the received waste stream
Implementation Method 4
wherein the contaminant trap is configured to sequester one or more pollutants therein
Implementation Method 5
a vacuum means suitable for removing the separated solid particulate material and the hydrocarbon pollutant from the at least one respective traps
Data Source
AI summary
The invention provides a method of decontaminating a waste stream liquid of solid particulate and one or more other pollutants, the method comprising the steps of: (i) removing solid particulate contaminant from the waste stream liquid by passing the waste stream liquid through at least one solids trap into a waste stream liquid holding reservoir whereby solid particulate is retained in the at least one solids trap; and (ii) removing one or more other pollutants from the waste stream liquid in the reservoir by contacting the waste stream liquid with at least one contaminant trap whereby the contaminant trap sequesters the one or more other pollutants within the contaminant trap.