Operating and managing a school food service operation comes with no shortage of challenges. From rising prices to staff training and allergens, schools today are constantly faced with a variety of issues.
Most recently, the focus has moved over the past several years. Now, school kitchens are facing the implementation of eco-friendly practices. This can include the use of energy efficient equipment, recycling packing waste, and reducing energy and/or water, which are essential in saving time and money in their districts.
For one Connecticut school, Norwich Free Academy, the challenge involved removing a stench from the kitchen. “We were able to quickly assess the problem,” noted Dave Girard the school’s facilities manager. The challenge was where to go to find a solution. “We did our homework and found Dunegrass. I can’t say enough about working with Ted McKay and his Dunegrass team.”
“The solution was to capture the grease from what is mandated by the state,” Girard added. “The law states that you can’t have any grease going down in the drain. But then we have the awful smell of the septic smell coming from the other grease traps that we were using. So, we wanted to get rid of that smell, and as I did my homework, I found that the Goslyn system from Dunegrass accomplished that.”
The school has a long history having been in operation since 1856. It is a coeducational independent school for students between the 9th and 12th grade. Last Spring’s class of 2018 was NFA’s 162nd graduating class.
“As you can well imagine feeding that many student bodies requires a large inventory of pots and pans which make the prewash sink and cleaning process a focus,” Girard said. Our staff washes everything down with a pre-rinse soak in solutions. All the grease and residue comes off and goes down the drain into the grease trap. Fine foods are then caught in the strainer to keeping it from going into the trap.”
Girard continued: “Anything that does get through, falls to the bottom. With the Goslyn system, at the bottom of the trap there’s a glass valve. It’s a spring-loaded ball that forces the residue down to that valve. We just open it up for ten seconds and dump that right down the drain so it’s completely biodegradable. When the ball gets up to where there’s enough water in there the ball seals up the hole so that no water escapes.”
“Dunegrass’ Goslyn™ Grease Recovery Device is designed to remove FOG (Fats, Oils, and Grease) from wastewater effluent. There are no moving parts to break and no messy, time-consuming grease traps to clean,” McKay explained. “Plus, its small footprint makes it easy to install in even the smallest prep kitchens.”
In addition to its application in a school’s commercial kitchen, The Goslyn™ is the ideal separator for Three-Compartment Sinks, Dishwashers, Prep Sinks, Woks, and Kettles in a wide diversity of foodservice operations. “With the growth of rotisserie cooking to prepare chicken, the Goslyn system has become a go-to,” noted McKay. The bottom pan inside each oven has 1-1/2” deep-water bath to create a moist cooking environment inside the oven. As the chicken cooks, there is a tremendous amount of chicken fat that drips into this water. The large grease content that results can create costly blockages in sewer lines and traditional grease interceptors that needs to be frequently pumped out.
From a very compact footprint to 99.6% separation efficiency, Goslyn™ Separators virtually eliminate the risk of sewer line blockages by allowing a FOG discharge of barely 62 ppm into sewer lines… as compared to over 18,500 ppm discharged by traditional grease traps. In addition, the liquefied chicken fat collected by Goslyn™ Separators is converted into high-grade yellow grease by the separator that commands a top dollar from bio fuel producers.
With energy efficiency, also on Girard and Norwich Free Academy’s agenda, the Gosyln system was once again able to accomplish the veteran facility manager’s goals.
“It’s hydrostatic pressure with the water pressure pushing all the oils to the top,” Girard explained. “So as long as you get the oils going to the top they’re going to get forced out of a retrieval tray that’s up on the top.”
From large school foodservice operations to the corner deli, Goslyn from Dunegrass delivers a cost efficient environmentally friendly solution for the capture and disposal of grease.
