Matti Keränen, Tekniikka & Talous 16.1.2018
VR has had a trial at the restaurants of Helsinki Central Railway Station and Malmi Railway Station. The goal of the trial was to maintain grease traps of the restaurants by using Finnish microbe innovation.
“The goal of the trial was to get the grease traps to function properly and also to make the need to empty the grease traps less often. The reason why we had these goals for the trial was simply because we wanted to do something concrete to protect the pipes by making them last longer. While the need to empty the traps doesn’t occur as often the problems will be gone and the expenses will be lower”, tells Ville Rantala, the head of maintenance at VR.
Each restaurant of the building has its own grease trap and each grease trap is used actively. The trial was ran at Hesburger, Namaskaar Express and Burger King.
“The problems caused by the smell were even bigger in Namaskaar’s grease trap than at the other restaurants because a lot of dishes cooked at Namaskaar are spicy. When the floor is washed the grease coming off makes the functioning of the grease trap challenging”, tells technical manager Hannu Isoniemi.
Grease becomes solid very easily in a grease trap which results to a lot of extra waste ending up to wastewater treatment plants. A situation like this might result to wastewater entering a water system.
The first trial period started at Helsinki Central Railway Station in the spring and the second one at Malmi Railway Station in October. It has removed bad smell and improved the functioning of grease traps.
“The grease trap is working much better, its surface is not as hardened anymore. Instead of this it has remained odourless and running. Due to this we have been able to empty the grease drain without any problems. I have also noticed that the mechanics inside the drain function much better and there is no more solid surface layer. I have actually been expecting this. There are no more unnecessary alarms”, says Isoniemi.
Restaurants are able to save money when there are not as much drain problems. They also avoid doing unnecessary work.
“The concrete fact we have noticed in our expenses is the better function of Hesburger’s base drain. There are not as much clogs anymore and we have avoided doing pressure rinsing. Because of this the premises have saved money”, Isoniemi says.
Before the trial the premises have emptied their grease traps four times a year. The goal is to do the emptying three times a year from now on. This makes the amount of saved money grow higher.