How to Solve Kitchen Exhaust Treatment Challanges

Are you interested?

Grease buildup causes problems in commercial kitchen exhaust ducts

The five key challenges facing commercial kitchen as a result of grease buildup:

Effectively addressing these challenges will mitigate fire risks and reduce overall operational expenses.

Challenges in kitchen ventilation and how to avoid them.

1. Fire hazard

The grease-filled extract air from commercial kitchens causes grease to accumulate throughout the entire duct, which can lead to an uncontrollable fire if ignited. These fires pose a significant threat to the entire building.

You can swiftly and efficiently eliminate grease and microorganisms by treating the exhaust air from commercial kitchens with ozone. This treatment process does not even leave behind any harmful by-products.

It is crucial to effectively treat the exhaust air from commercial kitchens; by doing so, you are in fact mitigating the risk of chimney or grease duct fires.

Read more about the importance of fire prevention and grease removal in our brochure here.

2. Odor nuisance

Cooking fumes from restaurants often draw complaints from neighbors, tenants, nearby offices and hotel residents. Treating the kitchen exhaust air with ozone effectively minimizes odor components, mitigating potential inconveniences in the vicinity.

In urban settings, using ozone when treating kitchen exhaust air could determine whether a restaurant is permitted to operate or not.

For further information on odor reduction, please refer to our kitchen exhaust guide brochure here.

3. Cost of cleaning and maintaining exhaust ductwork

The costs associated with manual duct cleaning significantly impact the revenue of a commercial kitchen business.

Not only is there a direct expense associated with the cleaning work, but there is also a cost in the form of lost revenue since kitchen operations have to be suspended while the ducts are being cleaned.

By implementing an efficient kitchen exhaust air treatment system that cleans and maintains your ducts, you can markedly reduce the need for manual duct cleaning and consequently decrease these costs.

With RENA Kitchen Solutions, your ducts will remain clean day after day, year after year, saving your business a substantial amount of money that would otherwise have been spent on duct cleaning.

4. Heat recovery

The most impactful energy-saving strategy in properties with commercial kitchens is purifying and reclaiming energy from the extract air. Our research indicates that typical conditions can lead to a return on investment within 1-2 years.

In order to optimize your kitchen extract air treatment, we recommend implementing a secondary exhaust air treatment system following the mechanical grease filter, which effectively separates larger fat droplets and particles. Ozone treatment stands out as the most effective secondary treatment method when it comes to maximizing heat recovery from the exhaust air.

An average-sized kitchen can achieve significant annual savings by incorporating RENA Kitchen Solutions as their secondary treatment method, alongside installing a heat exchanger. These savings have the potential to reach tens of thousands of euros. Despite moderate thermal efficiencies, the benefits of recovering heat from exhaust air remain considerable.

Explore further on how to optimize heat recovery by clicking here.

5. Cost of ducting

By incorporating our RENA Kitchen Solutions system, an automatic ozone-based cleaning system, into your ductwork, it not only allows you to consider more cost-effective materials, but it also guarantees compliance with Swedish fire safety regulations like Imkanal 2022. By efficiently removing grease buildup in the ventilation system, establishments can mitigate fire hazards and related costs while showcasing that they are dedicated to safety and following regulations.

Please note that these classifications pertain to Sweden, and regulations may vary in other countries.

For further information on standards and regulations, please read more here.

Challenges (Pains)

Challenges with a commercial kitchen in real estates	The prospective impact
Fire fueled by grease buildup spreading through the ducts	The potential of a full-scale house fire that is hard to extinguish Smoke and soot remediation resulting in continuous closure of the kitchen Continuous closure of the kitchen resulting in prolonged financial losses
Cooking odors discharged outdoors	Disruption; necessary remedial action or possible closure Unintentional exhaust air recirculation as supply air, resulting in dispersion of cooking odors throughout the entire building (often encountered in structures with flat roof configurations) Outdoor areas become unusable
Grease buildup in the entire exhaust ventilation	Frequent inspection requirements Costs of regular duct cleaning to remove grease buildup Costs of suspending kitchen operations when cleaning the ducts The heat exchanger cannot perform effectively
Grease buildup on equipment in the duct	Causes operational disruptions and shortens the lifespan of the ducts
Requirements for a more costly and highly fire-resistant grease duct material, such as stainless steel	Multiple times the cost of galvanized or black steel
A significant amount of heat energy is lost through kitchen ventilation, resulting in low energy efficiency	Higher energy costs for the business
Air filters preceding the equipment quickly become clogged	Elevated pressure drop necessitates higher fan speeds, resulting in increased energy consumption
Having kitchens operate in venues not initially intended for restaurant operations	Expensive retrofitting of venues to make them suitable for commercial kitchen use

Turn pain into gain

We have knowledge of and experience in minimizing the impact of grease and odor-related challenges in kitchen ventilation systems.

Using our innovative approach, we have successfully transformed previously challenging venues into optimal environments for restaurant operations, much to the property owners’ satisfaction.

With our expertise and cutting-edge technology, we effectively address:

• The risk of duct fires

• Disruptive odors

• The expense of installing a new grease duct

• The cost of inspection and grease duct cleaning

Ozonetech RENA Kitchen Solutions System

Allow us to introduce our Ozonetech RENA Kitchen Solutions system! It is a system that functions using a distributed ozone oxidation technology, designed to target grease droplets and aerosols after the grease filter in the hood has done its work. As a result, RENA Kitchen Solutions reduces both the costs and risks when it comes to grease-related issues in commercial kitchen ventilation systems.

The RENA Kitchen Solutions boasts minimal operating costs while having low maintenance requirements. Moreover, since the system uses ambient air as its raw material, there is no need to purchase, transport, or manage any additional resources. In addition, there is also no need for you to worry about moving parts, mechanical cleaning, fillings, or taking care of waste or residues produced by the system.

Explore the capabilities of the RENA Kitchen Solutions in this informative brochure.