Anti-fatberg invention could help unclog city sewers
Dr Biplob Pramanik shows the difference between a concrete block coated with his team’s anti-fatberg invention compared to a block without any coating after undergoing an experiment that mimicked a sewer environment under extreme conditions to speed up the fatberg formation process. The white coloured blobs on the uncoated block are a mixture of fat, oil and grease (FOG) (Credit: Will Wright, RMIT University)
November 13, 2024 – Engineers from Australia’s RMIT University (Melbourne) have developed a protective coating for concrete pipes that can significantly reduce the formation of fatbergs in sewers. Fat, oil, and grease (commonly referred to as FOG) are notorious for clogging pipes and concrete sewers. In the United States, FOG is responsible for half of all sewer blockages, while in Australia it accounts for 40%, resulting in substantial costs.
A research team led by Dr. Biplob Pramanik developed a new self-healing polyurethane coating that reduced the accumulation of FOG on concrete by 30% compared to uncoated concrete. The study was published in November of this year in the Chemical Engineering Journal under the title ‘Novel hybrid coating material with triple distinct healing bond for fat oil and grease deposition control in the sewer system.’
