Even three WWII destroyer engines couldn’t keep up with six inches of FOG accumulating every few days
6-inches or more of grease every few days. The lift station was an open pit, running three WWII destroyer engines. The F.O.G. (fats, oil and grease) cap would become several feet thick, requiring physical removal by hand shoveling into vacuum hoses and high pressure jetting. In just four weeks of starting to use an archaea-based consortium of beneficial microbes, the insoluble FOG was converted to water soluble fatty acids, and the entire wet well ended up clean, including grates, piping, bricks and target. The pit was never cleaned again until a new station was built at Quincy Point, making the old one obsolete and decommissioned.
FOG and odor control, and significant net savings and operating efficiencies gained by using archaea beneficial microbes
In another town nearby to Quincy, there are three different lift stations that used to require frequent expensive and laborious pump-outs and clean-outs, with FOG caps disrupting and disabling float switches and pumps, and solids caps accumulating on the surface. Since they started using the archaea-based consortium about 3 years ago, they have saved 7 or 8 pump-outs per year at each of 3 different wet wells. Weekly maintenance is as simple as tossing a scoop of the beneficial microbes into each lift station.
Wastewater treatment success depends on carefully managed microbial communities
Modern secondary treatment plants are designed, engineered and operated to provide an enhanced microbiome for naturally occurring microbes to thrive in their role of breaking down waste. All too often though, we overlook the opportunity to augment and intensify that microbial efficiency by adding carefully selected supplemental microbes. Like probiotics for the wastewater treatment system, they can eliminate F.O.G., save significant maintenance and electrical utility costs, more easily enable exceeding effluent standards, and significantly reduce odors in the process.
Why specifically Archaea?
Archaea are a type of microbe much more rugged and hardy than bacteria or enzymes, and have an exquisite ability to tackle a broad spectrum of contaminants in an ample variety of operating environments. They thrive in a wider range of temperature, pH and salinity and are especially suited to extreme environments. This makes them particularly appropriate to the harsh conditions of sewer treatment operations. They are the oldest microbes and have no known pathogenic species.
Where do I find Archaea-based microbes for use in sewage treatment?
Boston-based Akaya offers a proprietary archaea-based consortium that has been used for more than 25-years, is 100% non-GMO, and is safe for use around people, plants and animals. The formula can be used on open water and on land. With a 5-year shelf-life, it’s a powerful tool to have on hand for routine maintenance and to optimize operating levels, as well as to enable operators to respond to spills and illegal dumping events (e.g. frack fluid, brine, cooking oils).
The product cost is modest, and almost all of the operators who have tried it experienced a significant net savings as a result. Call Akaya today and see the results yourself.
- A lifelong sailor and water lover, Kevin Mirise lives and works on the coast in Cohasset, near Boston, MA. He’s a Director at a bioremediation and biorestoration company that uses beneficial microbes to naturally eliminate contaminants from water and soil.
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