Eliminate FOG Violations with a Simple Coralyte™ Oils Tote System

Fats, oils, and grease—commonly known as FOG—can create expensive problems for industrial facilities. Even when wastewater appears clean, free or emulsified oils may remain in the water stream, contributing to discharge violations, surcharges, clogged infrastructure, and disruptions to downstream treatment.

Achieving compliance, however, does not always require a large, complicated treatment plant. Coralyte™ Oils media offers a practical alternative: treat oily wastewater by passing it through oil-capturing sponge media housed in simple intermediate bulk container (IBC) totes.

A Straightforward Approach to FOG Removal

Coralyte Oils is a reusable filtration media designed to capture free and emulsified oils from contaminated water. Rather than functioning like an ordinary absorbent that soaks up everything, the media allows water to move through the treatment bed while capturing oils, hydrocarbons, and other nonpolar organic contaminants.

The treatment process is simple:

1. Oily wastewater is collected or directed to the treatment area.

2. A pump moves the water through an IBC tote filled with Coralyte Oils media.

3. The media captures targeted oil contaminants as the water passes through.

4. Treated water exits the tote for discharge, reuse, additional polishing, or further treatment.

This pump-and-polish arrangement can be installed near a sump, washdown area, process line, collection tank, or discharge point. The result is a compact treatment step that addresses the contamination source without requiring a facility to rebuild its entire wastewater system.

Why Use IBC Totes?

IBC totes provide a convenient platform for Coralyte Oils media. They are readily available, compact, portable by forklift, and easy to connect using basic pumps, hoses, and piping.

A tote-based system can offer several advantages:

• A smaller footprint than many permanent treatment systems

• Lower initial equipment requirements

• Rapid installation with limited operational disruption

• Easy access for inspecting or servicing the media

• Portability between different collection and treatment points

• The ability to pilot the process before expanding it

• Flexible lead-lag configurations for greater reliability

Facilities can begin with one treatment tote and add capacity as flow rates or contaminant loads increase. Two totes may also be operated in series, allowing the second tote to provide additional polishing and protection against breakthrough.

Capture Free and Emulsified Oils

Gravity separators and skimmers can remove visible, free-floating oil, but smaller droplets and emulsified oils may remain in the water. These harder-to-remove contaminants can be especially troublesome because wastewater may look acceptable while still exceeding a discharge limit.

Coralyte Oils is designed to capture hydrocarbons and nonpolar organics across a wide concentration range, including difficult emulsified oils. This makes it suitable for streams such as:

• Equipment and vehicle wash water

• Oily sump and trench-drain water

• Metalworking and machining wastewater

• Industrial process water

• Maintenance-area runoff

• Bilge and shipyard water

• Fueling-area washdown

• Wastewater requiring final polishing before discharge

By treating the contaminants that conventional separation may leave behind, a Coralyte Oils tote can provide an additional line of defense against unexpected FOG results.

Reduce Waste with Reusable Media

Many oil-control programs rely on disposable pads, booms, or loose absorbents. These products may be useful for spills and surface cleanup, but repeated disposal can increase labor, material consumption, and waste-handling costs.

Coralyte Oils media is designed for reuse. Captured oil can be released from the sponge media through compression, allowing the media to return to service when appropriate. Depending on the recovered material and site requirements, the separated oil may then be collected for proper recycling or disposal.

Reusing the media can reduce the volume of oil-laden absorbent sent off-site and help lower the recurring cost of treating oily water.

Make Compliance Easier to Maintain

The real value of a tote-based system is not simply removing oil once—it is creating a repeatable treatment process.

A practical compliance program should include:

• Sampling untreated water to establish the incoming FOG load

• Sizing the tote and media volume for the expected flow

• Maintaining an appropriate and consistent flow rate

• Sampling treated water to verify performance

• Monitoring pressure, flow, or effluent quality for signs of breakthrough

• Establishing a routine media inspection and regeneration schedule

• Keeping operating, sampling, and maintenance records

Every wastewater stream is different. Pilot testing and laboratory analysis should be used to confirm the correct system design and demonstrate that the treated discharge meets the facility’s specific permit or sewer-use limits.

An Economical Alternative to Overbuilding Treatment

When FOG is the primary compliance problem, installing a complex treatment system for the entire wastewater stream may be unnecessary. A targeted Coralyte Oils tote can treat the problem stream close to its source or provide final polishing immediately before discharge.

That focused approach can help facilities avoid excessive capital spending while also reducing the risk of:

• FOG violations and enforcement action

• Municipal surcharges

• Emergency wastewater hauling

• Production interruptions

• Fouling of carbon, membranes, or biological treatment

• Frequent purchases of disposable absorbents

The system’s simplicity also makes it easier for plant personnel to understand, operate, and maintain.

Turn FOG Compliance into a Routine Process

FOG compliance should not depend on emergency cleanups or last-minute responses to failed samples. Coralyte Oils media in a simple IBC tote gives facilities a portable, scalable, and operator-friendly way to capture free and emulsified oils before they become a discharge problem.

With proper testing, sizing, monitoring, and maintenance, a Coralyte Oils tote system can transform oily wastewater treatment from a recurring compliance concern into a manageable part of normal operations.

Ready to address your facility’s FOG problem? Start by characterizing the wastewater, identifying the applicable discharge limit, and conducting a Coralyte Oils tote pilot under actual operating conditions.

Learn more about Coralyte Oils media and portable media-tote treatment.