
FAQs
Functionality
The waste food is decomposed and primarily produces water, CO2, and heat.
If waste food is chopped or ground, small parts of undigested food will enter the exit stream, increasing the levels of TSS (total suspended solids) and BOD (biological oxygen demand).
The motor on the LFC acts only to mix, or slowly stir, the waste. It runs only a quarter of the time, which minimizes the use of electricity.
If the waste has started to rot and is smelly, the aerobic decomposition will take over shortly after the waste is put into the LFC. This will then reduce or eliminate the smells.
Finally, we use a proprietary method to create our Powerchips. These Powerchips remain in the drum at all times and are very porous.
They house the microorganisms and rapidly disperse them among the waste food.
Powerzyme is safe to touch and / or inhale. The Powerzyme is non-toxic and non-hazardous.
You don’t need to take any special precautions if you accidentally spill it.
It’s rich in nutrients just as if you had composted the waste food in a more traditional manner – this would make an ideal fertilizer. However, if the waste food has meats, fats, grease, and spices such as salt and peppers, the output may not be suitable.
Weighing the waste food
If waste food is chopped or ground, small parts of undigested food will enter the exit stream, increasing the levels of TSS (total suspended solids) and BOD (biological oxygen demand).
The motor on the LFC acts only to mix, or slowly stir, the waste. It runs only a quarter of the time, which minimizes the use of electricity.
Installation
The LFC must also be in a location that doesn’t get hot. The maximum ambient air temperature is 35°C.
The maximum amounts of water and electricity used are listed on our web site. In practice, the amount of water and electricity consumed are typically 80% of those values listed in the table.
You may in some council areas connect the discharge via a Tundish close to the unit which is mounted on the wall.
The capacity of an LFC machine is based on the duration of your working day. If you add the same amount of waste food at regular intervals over an 18 hour day you’ll need a smaller machine than if you dispose of the same amount of waste food over an eight hour day.
This is more environmentally friendly than a commercial dishwasher, which may have waste food from plates going down the drain untreated.
Although the use of the LFC will not obviate the need to clean the grease trap, it should increase the time between the cleanings.
If you have your own on-site treatment system you do not need any such permit.
Purchase
Daily Usage
For example, if you want to dispose of 200 kg per day in a single batch, buy an LFC-300 (with a capacity of 300 kg). 70% of 300 kg is 210 kg so this can go into the machine once per day.
The following inorganic materials cannot be fed into the machine: paper, china, glass, plastic, rubber, cutlery, and any chemicals. You must also minimize organic materials that are very fibrous, such as corn husks (but corn cobs are ok) and lemon grass.
The bones may become stuck between the arms and the drum causing the LFC to stop. These bones will take up space and reduce the amount of food that can be digested in a given time.
You can take the bones out after the meat has been eaten. But it’s better to cut the large meat pieces into chunks no more than 500 grams, so there’s a larger surface area for the microorganisms to digest.
We recommend that in your kitchen or food preparation area that you use 20 litre buckets to hold the waste food.
This size of bucket can be lifted easily and emptied into the LFC. In current practice, you may be using 200 litre buckets in the kitchen and empty that into an outside trash container only when it is full.
The slight change in operating procedure will result in a cleaner and less smelly kitchen and reduce injuries that may happen by moving a bucket containing 200 kg of waste.
The default cycle is 20 minutes. For our LFC-200 (which can process up to 350 kg of waste food per day), the machine sprays hot water onto the waste food for 40 seconds at the start of each cycle. This uses about 4 litres water per cycle.
During each cycle, the machine uses cold water to wash out the cavity. This uses about the same amount of water. So, in a day this machine uses about 520 litres of water. The larger LFC units will use more water and the smaller LFC will use less.
The default program can be modified to optimize for water temperature, pressure, type of waste food, desired pH level of output, and acceptable concentrations of BOD, TDS, TSS, and COD of the waste water.
Don’t use soaps or detergents as they may enter the drum and kill the microorganisms. The LFC isn’t designed to be soaked with a sponge or a hosepipe.
You do need to replace the Powerchips periodically as explained here and that might be the only time you clean out the machine.
We have tested several brands of biodegradable plates and cups. The majority of these items disappeared in minutes, but some leave a residue that takes a long time to decompose. Knives and forks don’t decompose.
For any machine, we recommend it should have no less than 10% of its maximum rated capacity of waste food per day. Leaving the machine without food over a long weekend is acceptable.
If the power fails for a short time (less than 10 minutes) this will have no effect on the operation of the LFC. If the power fails for a long time (longer than four hours) then the waste food in the drum is not mixed, water is not injected, and oxygen is not introduced.
This could turn the decomposition process form aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) to anaerobic (in the absence of oxygen). While the aerobic decomposition (the normal method inside the LFC) does not smell, the anaerobic decomposition does smell. Further, the process is slowed inside the drum of the machine so a user cannot add waste food to the machine at the same rate as when the machine is powered.
After power has been restored, the LFC will resume its cycle and will be working normally again after some time. That time will be at least as long as the power had failed. For example, if the power failed for five hours, then the LFC will be working normally again after a further five hours once the power is restored.
If the power fails for an extended period (longer than 36 hours) then the microorganisms may not recover and may need to be supplemented after power has been restored.
This will reintroduce the aerobic microorganisms that are prevalent in the Powerzyme. For the microorganisms to digest all the remaining waste food in the LFC the power shouldn’t fail for at least 24 hours.
Configuration and Data
All data about the amount of waste food ingested are available numerically and graphically.
Remote Monitoring
Once connected, the LFC will send its data to the cloud server.
Operating Costs
When installed in a hotel, the electrical energy used by an LFC represents about 0.1% of the electricity used by the hotel.
In other countries please refer to the specification sheet for power usage for all sizes and your relevant power pricing structure.
Depending on the size of the LFC, that is about A$150 (for the LFC-50) to A$3,000 (for the LFC-1000) when using liquid Powerzyme.
You need to replace the Powerchips every three to five years. Depending on the size of the LFC, that is about A$650 (for the LFC-50) to A$13,000 (for the LFC-1000).
So, the average annualized cost of consumable items (after the initial items need replacing) is between A$500 (for the LFC-50) to A$10,000 (for the LFC-1000).
You may be able to observe when these items need attention. The rate of digestion slows down when you need to supplement the Powerzyme or change the Powerchips. If the digestion has slowed and your Powerchips are less than three years old, supplement the Powerzyme.
If your Powerchips are over three years old and when you last supplemented the Powerzyme the rate of digestion was not fully restored, then change the Powerchips the next time you plan to supplement the Powerzyme.
For the liquid Powerzyme, you should activate it for five hours in warm water and then gently pour it into the drum over the waste food.
The time to supplement the dry Powerzyme is two minutes. The labour time to supplement the liquid Powerzyme is 30 minutes.
Once the drum is empty you pour the new Powerchips into the drum. The total time is between 10 minutes for the LFC-50 to 60 minutes for the LFC-1000.
Impact on the Environment
The LFC-500, digesting 500 kg of waste per day will create only 66 kg of CO2 per day. At standard atmospheric pressure, this occupies a space of 42 litres. The rate of discharge is a mere1.75 litre per hour.
As a point of reference, the average adult when resting inhales (and exhales) 450 litres per hour of air. About 5% of that is oxygen that we have converted to CO2, so we typically output 23 litres of CO2 per hour.
We have a special blend of microorganisms (Powerzyme) that accelerate the decomposition of most foods. The LFC can decompose most waste foods within 24 hours.
The Powerzyme is non-toxic and non-hazardous. If you accidentally spill it, there are no special precautions you need to take.
The Powerzyme complies with all applicable rules or orders under the Toxic Substances Control Act USA (TSCA) and doesn’t contain any chemical substance in violation of it or any applicable rule or order under it.
The sum of these is shown on the data sheet and our web site (but the amount of water can be adjusted depending on the moisture of the waste food).
This water all flows through to the output. The majority of the waste food is decomposed into water.
For example, 1 kg of water is converted to 1 litre. If you use an LFC-100, the default water usage is 250 litres per day. So if you put in 100 kg of waste food per day, this will be converted to 100 litres. The total water output from the machine is the sum of these = 350 litres.
Over 97% of the material in the grey water is decomposed, but some solid material exits the machine through the fine mesh screen. This hasn’t yet decomposed and causes the high BOD. If you measure the BOD and accumulate the output over a 24 hour period (or 168 hour period if there are days when the machine is lightly used). Mix the output and send the sample to the lab for testing. The average is less than 300 ppm.
At the bottom of the LFC is a fine mesh that keeps waste food in the machine until it is digested. This then exits as water.
However, as some waste food becomes small, it can go through the machine undigested. So, as much as 3% of the product in the grey water is undigested waste food. For this to be digested as it travels to the sewage plant and in the plant itself, the microorganisms require oxygen, hence the demand.
In the USA, untreated sewage has a BOD of about 200 ppm (mg/l). The output of the LFC is typically about the same as this. The BOD of a pristine river is below 1 mg/l and the sewage plant strives to ensure its discharge is no greater than this. The output of the LFC doesn’t affect the operation of the sewage plant or of what that plant eventually discharges.
In the sewage plant, microorganisms are used to digest the solids. The microorganisms that exit the LFC will continue to digest waste food as it travels to the sewage plant. And this will help clean the drains of the facility.
Numerous studies have been conducted and found no more impact than discharging digested waste from humans.
Hauling the waste to a remote facility uses resources and is less convenient.
Product quality and service
Hauling the waste to a remote facility uses resources and is less convenient.
Hauling the waste to a remote facility uses resources and is less convenient.
• Supplement the Liquid Powerzyme (microorganisms) every nine to 18 months.
• Replace the Powerchips every three to five years.
• Chassis
• Outer panels
• Door and handle
• Shaft and arm
• Load cells (to weight the amount of waste food)
Stainless steel is a hard metal suitable for use in commercial and industrial kitchens. Materials such as aluminium or plastic are soft and are difficult to keep clean. This is why Power Knot constructs its LFC only with stainless steel because other metals are unsuitable for business use.
Our LFCs use motors from Europe, gearboxes from Taiwan, displays from China, and electronics fabricated in the USA and China. All assembly, testing, and burn in are done in Silicon Valley, California.
Power Knot maintains very high quality with our LFC machines, again building on 15 years of experience in manufacturing the machines. To replicate this in the US would result in a product that is more costly.
We add vital components in the US to tailor the products for the markets we serve.
They can provide annual maintenance and repairs in the event of a failure. Our international offices and international distributors are responsible for the servicing of the LFCs they sell.
However, the machines are very reliable, are designed for a lifetime of 15 to 25 years, and require only minimal periodic maintenance or service.
