Raffaella Villa, Environmental engineer at De Montfort University Leicester, giving a talk entitled "The science of fatbergs", on the Engineering Stage, at New Scientist Live 2019
Fat, oil and grease (FOG) in sewers, like in our blood vessels, can accumulate and produce hard deposits which interfere with the sewage flow. Rafaella Villa explains how these deposits grow bigger over time and can become huge underground fatbergs, composed of saponified fats congealed with non-flushable products. Drainages and pipes restrictions caused by the fatbergs can produce blockages and flooding, with risk to public health and the environment. Their mechanical removal and the maintenance of fatberg-blocked sewers cost between £15 and £50 million each year. But why and how do they form? And, more importantly, can we avoid them? Raffaella Villa graduated from University of Milan in food science and technologies, where she also did her PhD in applied biological catalysis. Raffaella worked at the University of Exeter, Stirling and at Cranfield University before joining De Montfort University last April. Her research work over the last 20 years has focused on microbial bioengineering and uses her particular expertise in microbial and enzymatic processes in the environmental sectors. Her current work includes: improvement of anaerobic digestion systems, bioremediation of fat, oil and grease in sewers and upcycling of organic waste for the production of high value compounds.
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Location: ExCel London, One Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock,
Photo credit: © John Gaffen / Alamy / Afripics
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Keywords: 2019, anaerobic, biochemistry, biogas, biotechnology, chemistry, de, development, digestion, energy, engineer, engineering, environmental, enzymes, fatbergs, institute, leicester, live, management, microalgae, microbiology, montfort, raffaella, science, scientist, stage, sustainable, treatment, university, villa, waste, wastewater
