Portable IR Analysers Help Industries Comply with Regulations for Measuring Fats, Oils and Greases

At Pittcon ’08, Wilks Enterprise Inc (USA) featured portable IR analysers that provide an accurate, easy on-site analysis to assist regulators, as well as industry, to reduce the build up of fats, oils and greases (FOG) in sewers. These analysers are ideal for use by publicly operated treatment centres as it is important to locate and monitor sites that are suspected of dumping high levels of FOG in the sewer line. In addition, numerous industries need to ensure they are not
exceeding their permit limits.Waiting for remote laboratory results can take several days to a week. With a simplified FOG analysis procedure using a portable mid-IR Wilks InfraCal TOG/TPH Analyser, regulators or industrial pretreatment operators can now get an on-site result in less than 10 minutes. The extraction and measurement procedure is simple enough for an operator withminimal training to do the analysis.
This type of measurement is not new as Infrared analysis of oil and grease has been used in the petroleum industry on highly regulated off-shore oil platforms for over 30 years. The InfraCal TOG/TPH Analysers are used worldwide for this particular measurement.
InfraCal TOG/TPH Analysers, with a simple and quickmeasurement procedure, now enable operators of a pretreatment system to easily assess their system’s efficiency. Plant operators can take samples before and after treatment to see how their system functions under heavy loads. System parameters can be changed and the results of the changes can be determined on-site without waiting a week or more for a laboratory result. Regulators from a POTW can take samples from the source and immediately determine who their FOG offenders. Most importantly, effluent with high levels of FOG that can be stopped before it stops the flow of the sewer line.