Restaurant Grease Spill

[Richard R.]

Anyone who will reply,

I have been involved in an emergency grease spill for the last two days at a large chain restaurant and I'm having some major problems cleaning it up satisfactory. I guess I'm expecting to much so if anyone could help, I would greatly appreciate it.
Does anyone know a good chemical that will clean a major grease spill from asphalt?
I seem to be making a dent in the clean up but the stain looks as if I haven't done much. Is the stain permanent or is their something I can use to draw the stain out and clean the grease faster and more effective?
Just looking for a good chemical to cut the grease.

Thanks

Richard R.

 

[David Saulque]

Anything that will cut the grease will harm the asphalt. What happen and give use a idea of square feet. I would for starters, take lots of EPA procautions and pull up as musch as I could by hand.

What have you done so far?

David

 

[MrClean]

Large grease spill

Your right. Just about everything that will saponify the grease is going to damage the surface of the asphalt.

Usually you would use a strong caustic type cleaner to saponify (turn the grease into soap) so that it may be rinsed from the surface. I make such a product for cleaning vents, flues and piping in kitchen exhaust systems. This process is just like our early settlers use to do with animal fat and lye in the big black pot over the fire. Unfortunately I can't help with the current spill but you may want to file this info in your memory banks for future reference. You may be able to find something local to solve the problem. You need a product that is at least 25% active caustic (either sodium or potassium hydroxide). Be careful with this type it is strong and can burn skin, so take the proper precautions to cover skin and protect eyes.

Once the grease has been totally saponified, it is simply soap. The main concern at that point is pH. The pH may have to be adjusted to meet local requirements and then simply disposed of down the local sewer. You may have to then repair the surface of the asphalt with the black pourable liquid surface repair that is available at most hardware stores. If the damage is more severe, then other methods may be indicated.

I hope this helps.
MrClean

 

[Richard R.]

Sorry it's taken me so long to answer.
It's about 12 to 15 hundred sq ft and I've used all sorts of things.

I first started by calling Zep Headquarters and asked for their advise since I had just purchased a variety of their products. They told me I could use the Big Orange at 4 to 1 and it would work fine. Apparently the lady who answered the tech phone didn't realize how big the spill was. Well...it worked OK until I ran out. I then used another natural orange citrus solvant that I picked up at a pool supply store. That didn't work very well so I started trying a few things of my own.
I ended up using my shurflo and mixed up shampoo, Vinegar, alcohol, Laundry detergent, appeel (citrus cleaner) and water. This seemed to break the grease up pretty well. After calling one of the bb members, I learned that the stain was there to stay and that since I cut the grease not to worry about the stain. I wish now that I would have checked all of this out first before talking to the owner. I think she was expecting the same as I did. It just didn't happen. The stain was laughing at me when I pulled away, but I have a feeling the owner is not going to be laughing when she gets the bill. Hopefully she will consider herself pretty lucky I even got the grease up. At least now, no one is tracking around in grease any longer.
Most likely, I will not be getting any contracts from this restaurant.
Oh Well...I guess I'll live and learn.

Please fill free to comment on what I should have done.

Thanks for the response

Richard R.

 

[jschessler]

Grease spill

So you will know in the future, just use degreaser if you don't have access to ph, sh. This will clean it fine using a surface twister. Just pass over the are fast and not slow or it will tear the asphalt, depending on how old it is, apart.
Oh and always find out first if the city required it because in that case they will come out to see you pick up the water too. If they require certification and watch you , then you rip their pocket out because otherwise the fine is between 5,000 and 10,000 dollars.
I have done several of these and I recover the water and put back into the oil seperators. In some cases they cannot reopen until it is clean.

 

[Richard R.]

jchessler,

I have found that degreaser is sometimes harder to get out than the grease itself. In a climate as hot and humid as the south, you can come back the next day and as the sun beats down on the asphalt, you can see the degreaser mixed in with the tar and it's pretty scary. The aspalt will slightly turn loose in some cases especially if you do the work at night and loose sight of the rinse process a little. It takes me forever to rinse it out so it won't damage the ashalt.
The thing I have found that works pretty well is a few household combinations. Instant grease fighters such as shampoo for oily scalp, vinegar, alcohol and a natural solvent like Big Orange by Zep seems to kill the oil texture. One other thing that I'm not sure if others know about is a product called Micro Blazeout. It's used by many fire departments and emergency spill operations in the US and Mexico to assist in the process of digesting the oil and fats. It has thousands of tiny organisms that attacks, eats and digests the grease and it continues to work everytime the surface becomes wet again. Moisture seems to wake up these little things and they come alive again. The only draw back is that it is very expensive. It's about $26.50 a gallon. All in all, it's not to bad because you can use it to spray at 6% and it works pretty well. It's also used to fight oil fires because it eats up the oil and the fire has nothing left to burn. I have a retired Fire Fighter in this area that sales the stuff so if you ever need some, I will try to find him.
The best procedure is to use the above to clean up as much as possible and then apply the Micro Blazeout and walk a way or you can apply the Blazeout first, let it work for several hours and then come back and use a shampoo vinegar mix to wash the remaining left over. Either way, it's always nice to finish the clean up by applying the Micro Blaze or Micro Blazeout as the final stage. Then you can walk away with a little more confidence and if the EPA gets involved,they pretty much know you've tryed your best. We don't have as many regulations here yet but I'm sure their coming. Our population is not quiet as large as others, not that it should make much difference, but it seems to for them. I'm just glad they don't bother us as much as they do you guys. I could never be in business if they did.

Thanks for your response, it's greatly appreciated.

Richard R.

 

[MrClean]

Heavy grease removal

I'm afraid you have missed my point. If you apply a saponifying product to the heavy deposits of grease, the grease turns (literally bubbling foaming soap) to soap. Upon turning to soap, then all you have to do is rinse it away. Soap will not damage anything and is natural product that can be rinsed away, no harm done. You really don't need all the self imposed chemistry. It really is a simple resolution to a very difficult problem.

Thanks,
MrClean

 

[Richard R.]

MrClean,
Your right, I did miss your point. A lot of times things are listed on the forum I have never heard of. I can bearly spell saponifying let alone know what it is.
Let me know how I can get it so I can put it in my chemical inventory.
I appreciate it.
Sorry about missing the point.
I will definitely try anything that works as long as I can get my hands on it and it's not to expensive.
One other thing, the chemical you have, citro-solv, have you ever tryed it out on gutter streaks. Would it be a chemical that you could spray on and rinse off with little or no scrubbing.

Thanks again.

Richard R.

 

[MrClean]

Grease Spill Removal

Saponification is the process of turning animal fat into soap. Our ancestors did this by boiling animal fat and adding lie to the mix then pouring the mix into molds......bar soap!!

The same process applies to the removal of cooking oil. All carbon based greases will react to the saponification process.

two products that deal with removal of grease and oil from resturant hoods and ducts. The same two products would be appropriate for removal of spilled grease. The process is the same in both cases.

Citro Solv would not be indicated for removal of black streaks from gutters. One of our products BD-200 would be indicated. Its a spray on, allow a few seconds dwell time, then pressure wash off. Will remove more than 95% of black steaks and dingy dull appearance without brushing.


Thanks,
MrClean