Fatberg

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A fatberg is a congealed lump in a sewer system formed by the combination of non-biodegradable solid matter such as wet wipes with grease or cooking fat. They become an increasing problem in the 2010s, as a result of the combination of aging Victorian drains and the rise of disposable (so-called flushable) cloths.

Video Fatberg

Description

Fatbergs form at rough surfaces of sewers where the fluid flow becomes turbulent. Normally, in pipes and tubes with smooth inner linings the fluid near the containing wall is only slightly slower than the fluid in the central (lumen) of the pipe, and the whole volume of fluid flows smoothly and freely. When the fluid encounters an obstruction, the swirl of water helps debris to become trapped. Initially perhaps only a tiny fibre or hair attaches to the obstruction, which then swirls in the turbulent flow and increases the obstructive nature of the original defect.

Obstruction can be any type of rough surface capable of snagging debris. In brick or concrete sewers that may be surplus cement drips ("snotty noses"), damaged brickwork, loose mortar, joints damaged by land heave. In any sub-surface pipe, even of the most advanced design, penetration by foreign intrusions such as tree roots is a commonplace cause of fatberger blockage.

In sewers carrying alkaline fluids, lipids can become calcified and solid. In addition to wet wipes and fat, fatbergs may also contain other items which do not break apart or dissolve when flushed down the toilet, such as sanitary napkins, cotton buds, needles and condoms, as well as food waste washed down kitchen sinks. The resulting lumps of congealed material can be as strong as concrete, and require specialist equipment to remove.

In some areas, such as London, fat blocked in a sewer can react with the lining of the pipe and undergo saponification, converting the oil into a solid, soaplike substance.

Grease and fat blockages can cause sanitary sewer overflows, in which sewage is discharged from a sewer into the environment without treatment. In the United States, almost half of all sewer blockages are caused by grease.

Fatbergs have been considered as a source of fuel, specifically biogas. The majority of a fatberg uncovered in Whitechapel, London, in 2017, weighing 130 tonnes (130,000 kg) and stretching more than 250 metres (820 ft), was successfully converted into biodiesel.

Fatbergs can be mitigated through public awareness campaigns about flushable waste and grease traps for filtration at the source.

Fatbergs are largely blamed on wet wipes and campaigns have been launched against their use, because of their effect on sewer systems.

Maps Fatberg

Etymology

"Fatberg" is a portmanteau of fat + berg, modelled on iceberg. The neologism was in use among sewer managers by 2013. The word was added to Oxford Dictionaries Online in 2015. The term is in official use by authorities at Thames Water in southern England.

src: cdn.ianvisits.co.uk

Notable cases

• 6 August 2013: A fatberg roughly the size of a bus that weighed 15 tonnes (17 tons), consisting of food fat and wet wipes, was discovered in drains under London Road in Kingston upon Thames, London.
• 1 September 2014: A collection of waste, fat, wet wipes, food, tennis balls and wood planks the size of a Boeing 747 aeroplane was discovered and cleared by sanitation workers within a drain beneath a 260-foot (80 m) section of road in Shepherd's Bush, London.
• 3 September 2014: The sewerage system beneath Melbourne, Australia was clogged by a large mass of fat, grease and waste.
• January 2015: As part of a campaign against drain blocking, Welsh Water released a video showing a fatberg in drains in Cardiff.
• April 2015: A 40-metre-long (130 ft) fatberg was reported as having been removed from underneath Chelsea, London. It took over two months to remove the fatberg, and the damage it had caused was estimated to cost £400,000 to repair.
• July 2015: A 120-metre-long (390 ft) fatberg was discovered in the city of Welshpool in mid-Wales.
• January 2016: Blockage from a fatberg near Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia damaged the Eleebana sewage pumping station. The fatberg "weighed about one tonne (1.1 tons) and took four hours to remove" by crane.
• September 2017: A 250-metre-long (820 ft) fatberg weighing over 140 tonnes (150 tons) was found under Whitechapel, London. Even with workers working seven days a week at a cost of £1 million per month, officials said it could take as much as two months to destroy it. Two pieces of this fatberg were cut off on 4 October 2017 and, after several weeks of drying, displayed at the Museum of London from 9 February 2018 as part of the museum's City Now City Future season.
• September 2017: A fatberg of congealed fat, wet wipes, and waste was discovered under the streets of Baltimore, Maryland that caused sewer spillage of 1.2 million US gallons (4.5 million litres; 1.0 million imperial gallons) into Jones Falls.
• April 2018: A fatberg discovered under South Bank in London is suspected to be larger than the one found under Whitechapel.

src: c8.alamy.com

See also

Fatberg boosts Museum of London attendance

src: fatberg.nl

References

Source of article : Wikipedia