Commercial Kitchen Grease Interceptor
Grease interceptor for commercial kitchens, restaurants, food courts, and institutional catering to capture fat, oil, and grease before discharge to the municipal sewer.
Applications
Phase Separation & Oil Water
Applications
13 process duties
Outlet oil
down to 5 ppm
Technology
CPI · API · Coalescing · Carbon
Manufacturing
ISO 9001:2015
Application Theme · Engineered by SorbiTech
Oil, water, and solids separation across produced water, refinery effluent, vehicle wash, and process drains.
Phase separation covers the full chain from gravity assisted oil water separation to coalescing polish and dissolved organics removal. The thirteen applications in this theme span produced water treatment in upstream operations, refinery effluent before final discharge, vehicle and equipment wash water recycling, marine bilge water treatment, and commercial kitchen grease interception.
The dominant technology is mechanical: a corrugated plate interceptor or API separator removes free oil and settleable solids at the inlet, a coalescing skid handles dispersed oil between 10 and 100 ppm, and an activated carbon polishing bed removes dissolved organics down to single digit ppm where the discharge consent or reuse target requires it.
SorbiTech delivers the complete train under one engineering record. The vessel design, the internals geometry, the carbon grade, and the lifecycle service programme close out together. One performance guarantee covers the outlet specification from the inlet flange of the CPI to the carbon outlet sample point.
Mechanism
Gravity separation removes free oil. Coalescing polishes the dispersed phase. Carbon adsorption captures the dissolved residual. Each stage targets a band of the contaminant distribution.
free oil to about 10 ppm
CPI outlet
single digit ppm dissolved
Carbon polish outlet
Process Description
Three Stage Separation
A corrugated plate interceptor uses the difference in density between oil and water across an inclined plate stack to enlarge the droplets and accelerate the rise rate. The interceptor takes the inlet emulsion down to roughly 10 ppm free oil at the outlet. Sludge collects at the bottom for periodic pump out.
A coalescing skid downstream uses a high surface area media bed to merge the dispersed droplets and let them rise to the surface skim. The outlet from the coalescing skid sits between 5 and 10 ppm. For a tighter discharge consent or for protection of a downstream membrane, an activated carbon polishing bed removes the dissolved hydrocarbon residual.
Engineering & Delivery
Skids, Modules, and Turnkey
SorbiTech ships phase separation duties as ready to run skids for the common rated flows, as modules sized to the project hydraulic profile, or as turnkey EPC where the project scope covers civil, mechanical, and electrical execution. Rental skids are held at the regional service centre for turnarounds and emergency response.
The vessel material follows the inlet chemistry. Carbon steel for sweet produced water, lined carbon steel for moderately corrosive duty, duplex stainless for sour service to NACE MR0175 with hardness controlled welds and a nitrogen blanket on the gas space. The factory acceptance test verifies the rated separation efficiency on simulated oily water before shipment.
Process duties in this theme
Each duty page carries the inlet specification, the recommended media or system, the cycle parameters, and the engineering selection guidance.
Gas Station Forecourt Runoff Interceptor
Buried CPI oil water interceptor for fuel forecourt runoff at gas stations, fuel terminals, and transport refuelling sites to meet municipal sewer discharge on petroleum hydrocarbons.
Compressor Condensate Oil Water Separation
Treating oil contaminated condensate from compressed air systems using compact oil water separation and activated carbon polishing to meet municipal sewer discharge.
Food Processing Wash Water Treatment
Treatment of food processing wash water from meat, poultry, dairy, and vegetable processing using DAF, grease interception, and activated carbon polishing to meet sewer discharge.
Truck, Bus, and Heavy Equipment Wash Bay
Wash water recycling for truck, bus, and heavy equipment wash bays handling the higher hydrocarbon and solids load from commercial vehicles and construction equipment.
Vehicle Wash Water Recycling
Recycling car wash and light vehicle wash water using staged CPI separation, coalescing polishing, and activated carbon polishing to cut fresh water purchase and sewer discharge by 50 to 70 percent.
Crude Oil Desalting
Removing salt, water, and solids from crude oil at the refinery inlet using electrostatic coalescing and downstream effluent treatment of the desalter brine.
Marine Bilge Water Treatment
MEPC 107(49) compliant marine bilge water treatment using coalescing separation and activated carbon polishing to meet the IMO 15 ppm oil in water discharge limit.
Workshop Floor Drain Treatment
Compact oil water separator for workshop floor drains in vehicle service bays, mechanical workshops, and equipment maintenance facilities to meet municipal sewer discharge limits.
API Separator and Municipal Stormwater
API standard oil water separator and municipal stormwater interceptor for refinery effluent, industrial site runoff, and urban stormwater carrying petroleum hydrocarbons.
Industries served by this theme
Four representative industries where SorbiTech delivers installations under this application theme, with the engineering record behind each.
One supplier covers the chemistry, the vessel, and the EPC
Adsorption duties touch the media specification, the vessel design, and the project execution at the same time. SorbiTech engineers all three from the same record, with one performance guarantee against the contracted outlet condition.
Engineered, Not Traded
The grade shipped is the grade engineered into the vessel design. SorbiTech designs the unit, sizes the bed, and supplies the media as one decision.
Lot Traceability per Shipment
Every shipment carries a certificate of analysis covering iodine, water capacity, crush strength, attrition loss, and bulk density measured against the lot.
Lifecycle Service Contract
The bed is supported through its service life. Field sampling, performance audit, reactivation logistics, and end of life return under one agreement.
Cross Disciplinary Team
Process engineers, mechanical designers, and lifecycle specialists work the same project. The recommendation closes against duty data, not a catalogue page.
Duty to recommended solution
Starting point for the engineering conversation. The final specification closes out after SorbiTech receives the inlet composition, the operating window, and the target outlet condition.
Duty or Target
Recommended Approach
Produced water oil water separation, sweet service
CPI separator in carbon steel, followed by coalescing skid where outlet below 10 ppm is required.
Refinery effluent before final discharge
CPI plus coalescing plus activated carbon polish to meet discharge consent below 5 ppm.
Vehicle wash water recycling
CPI plus multi media filter plus GAC polishing bed for water reuse to wash quality.
Sour produced water service
Pressurised CPI in NACE MR0175 duplex stainless, with nitrogen blanket on the gas space.
Marine bilge water, MEPC 107(49) compliance
Type approved bilge water separator with downstream carbon polish, certified for class society survey.
Common Questions on Phase Separation & Oil Water
What outlet oil concentration is achievable from a CPI alone?
About 10 ppm free oil from a correctly sized corrugated plate interceptor at the rated flow. Emulsified oil and dissolved hydrocarbons pass through the CPI and require a downstream coalescing skid or activated carbon polishing bed to meet tighter discharge consents.
How is the CPI sized for the duty?
By the rise velocity of the smallest droplet to be removed against the horizontal velocity through the plate pack. The Stokes settling equation is the starting point, with empirical correction factors for the plate spacing, the inlet flow distribution, and the temperature dependent viscosity. A 25 percent margin on the rated flow is standard.
Does the coalescing skid need pre filtration?
Yes. Solids and free oil load the coalescing media and shorten the cartridge life. A CPI separator or a multi media filter upstream removes the bulk solids and free oil; the coalescer then handles the dispersed and emulsified phase between 10 and 100 ppm.
When is activated carbon polishing required?
When the discharge consent is below 5 ppm oil, when the receiving water has a tight aromatic limit, or when the downstream treatment is reverse osmosis or biological where the dissolved hydrocarbon would foul the membrane or inhibit the biology. The carbon bed adds the polishing step.
What is the typical service life of the carbon polish bed?
Six to twelve months on refinery effluent at the rated inlet load. Two to three years on light duty polishing downstream of a well operated coalescer. Carbon usage rate per cubic metre of treated water is the design metric, not date based bed life. A field sample at three months confirms the rate against the design assumption.
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