Published September 24, 2026 · Updated September 26, 2026
Two starting points
Enzyme products are formulated proteins, usually lipases, proteases and amylases, added to a wastewater system to break specific chemical bonds in fats, oils and grease (FOG). A lipase cuts a fat molecule into smaller fragments, a protease breaks down protein, and an amylase works on starches, the same way a pair of scissors cuts a sheet of paper into strips without making the paper disappear. Poured into a grease trap, a drain line or a lift station, each enzyme is a catalyst, not a consumer: it speeds up a chemical reaction, comes out the other side unchanged, and keeps cutting the next bond until it eventually degrades and stops working. Because a single enzyme type does not attack every kind of organic material, most commercial blends pair several enzymes with a bacterial culture in the same bottle, so the bacteria have smaller, easier pieces to work through once the cutting is done. The reaction cuts the material apart. It does not consume it, so the smaller pieces continue downstream unless something else removes them.
DRP Accelerator starts from a different point. It is an inorganic compound, not a protein and not a living organism, that carries usable oxygen to the bacteria already living in the wastewater. We add no bacteria and no enzymes. With that oxygen available, the same aerobic bacteria digest fats, oils, grease and organic sludge in place, consuming the material rather than cutting it apart and sending it on, and they stop drawing oxygen from sulfate, so hydrogen sulfide is not formed. The accelerator itself is consumed as the bacteria use its oxygen, so nothing of it is left behind either.
What decides the choice is what each one adds to the water, when it acts, what stays behind once it has acted, and what it costs to run.
At a glance
| Factor | DRP Accelerator | Enzyme products |
|---|---|---|
| What is added | No bacteria or enzymes; only usable oxygen for the bacteria already present | Manufactured lipases, proteases and amylases, often blended with a bacterial culture |
| When it acts | Continuously, before FOG builds up and before the sulfide pathway starts | Once poured in, over a matter of hours, cutting bonds already present in the line |
| What stays downstream | Nothing; the compound is consumed as bacteria use its oxygen | Liquefied grease fragments and spent enzyme residue continue downstream |
| Where it reaches | As far upstream as water and power allow, including anaerobic zones aeration cannot reach | Only the trap or line where it is poured |
| FOG and sludge | Digested and consumed in place by native aerobic bacteria | Cut apart chemically; not removed or consumed |
| Capital and handling | No capital purchase; delivered and monitored as a monthly service | Hand dosed on a recurring schedule; the catalyst degrades and must be replenished |
| How it is measured | Measured against a baseline, with follow-up readings | Judged by whether the line clears, not against a measured baseline |
| Markets it names | Collection systems, lift stations and lagoons across the municipal, agricultural and other markets we serve | Marketed for grease traps, drain lines and small kitchen or lift station maintenance |
This describes enzyme products as a category. A specific product’s formulation may vary; confirm with your supplier.
That table is most of the decision. If it already reads your way, contact us and we will show you the program on your own system.
Where DRP Accelerator is the stronger choice
Set the two approaches next to each other and the differences stack up in the same direction, on what is added, what happens to the material, and what it costs to keep running.
- Digestion instead of a cut and release. The same aerobic bacteria that get access to usable oxygen consume fats, oils, grease and organic sludge in place, so nothing of it moves on to congeal further down the line. Our guide on how FOG builds up into a fatberg covers what happens when it is not consumed in place.
- Bacteria blends need a lab we do not. To add bacteria properly, a lab has to evaluate what bacteria are already present in the water, and that analysis is costly and has to be repeated as a regular part of the program. What is often seen instead is that a blend works at first, the lab work rarely happens, and the added culture dies off or has little or no effect. We only add oxygen: think of it as supercharging the bacteria already there, and it works continuously.
- Nothing added that stays behind. DRP Accelerator is consumed as the bacteria use its oxygen; there is no residue, no spent enzyme and no chemical additives left in the water once it has acted.
- Hydrogen sulfide prevented, where an enzyme leaves it alone. An enzyme product does nothing about a wastewater system’s oxygen supply. Ours keeps hydrogen sulfide from forming in the first place, since the bacteria stop drawing oxygen from sulfate once oxygen is available.
- Reach an enzyme dose cannot get to. We dose as far upstream as water and power allow, including the anaerobic zones inside a force main or a wet well that aeration never reaches, not just the trap where a bottle is poured.
- No recurring hand dosing. Enzymes degrade and need replenishing on a schedule; the accelerator runs as a monthly service we deliver, monitor and measure, with no capital equipment to buy.
- One program, the whole system. Where an enzyme dose treats one trap or one line, an upstream dosing point puts oxygen to work across the collection system it reaches, documented in our case studies. Our three-site lift station odor case study shows what that looks like across a whole collection system.
Put together, an enzyme dose treats the material that is already there. Our program changes the condition, the missing oxygen, that let the grease and the gas form in the first place.
Where enzyme products still have the edge
- A fast local knockdown. A single grease trap or drain line with a known clog gets quick relief from an enzyme dose: pour it in, let it work, and the material cuts loose in a matter of hours rather than weeks, with no site survey or delivery point to set up first.
- No equipment, water or power needed. A building with no room or utility access for a continuous delivery setup can still run an enzyme product by hand, which a dosing program built around remote monitoring cannot match at that scale.
- A contained problem with nothing else going on. A trap or line with a grease complaint alone, and no odor or corrosion complaint alongside it, is a reasonable case for a bottle and a replenishment schedule rather than a surveyed dosing point and an upstream program.
Where DRP Accelerator pulls ahead is everywhere the grease actually has to go somewhere once it is cut loose: an enzyme reaction breaks the molecule apart and moves it along, while our program feeds the bacteria that consume the material in place and prevents the hydrogen sulfide an enzyme was never built to touch.
Already running enzyme products? Add DRP Accelerator upstream
Nothing has to be removed first. We review the wastewater data already on hand, work out flow and volume, and calculate a dose and a delivery point before anything changes at the trap, drain line or lift station where the enzyme product already runs. We dose DRP Accelerator upstream of that point, set a baseline, and take readings as the program continues. With oxygen available further up the flow, the bacteria already living there start digesting fats, oils and grease before it ever reaches the spot the enzyme product treats, so the enzyme product has less work left to do. Many sites reduce how often they dose it, or retire it once the readings against the baseline hold. Gas monitors and confined space procedures stay in place regardless of what is dosed.
How to decide
Four questions sort the choice for almost any system.
- Find where the water actually runs out of oxygen: a grease trap, a drain line, a lift station or a lagoon, since that is where the sulfide pathway and the grease buildup both start.
- Ask what each product adds to the water and what, if anything, stays behind once it has acted, since that decides what a lab report downstream will still be measuring.
- Ask what happens to the fats, oils, grease and organic sludge: cut apart and moved along, or consumed and gone.
- Ask what it costs in capital and handling, and how the result is measured against a baseline, not just against how the trap or line looks the next morning.
Answer those four and the choice between a bottle on a shelf and a surveyed upstream dosing point usually settles itself.
Ask both vendors for the same page
Ask an enzyme supplier what happens to the grease once the bonds are cut, where the smaller pieces travel, how often the product needs replenishing, and whether anything in the formulation addresses hydrogen sulfide. Ask us the same kind of question, and we will show you the dosing point we would survey, the baseline we would set, the readings we would take once the program is running, and what we expect to change downstream, on your own system. A vendor confident in its own chemistry should be able to answer the same questions the other one does, and we say this in public because it is true. Contact us and we will put both answers on the same page.
A note on this comparison
This is general chemistry, not a claim about any single product or brand: enzyme formulations, blends and dosing instructions vary by manufacturer, and this page describes how enzymes work as a category rather than reviewing one supplier’s product. We wrote it, in our own words, and plenty of systems run an enzyme product alongside a program like ours rather than choosing only one. Nothing here is a substitute for a specific product’s own label or a lab result run on your own water. Confirm the specifics, the dosing instructions and the replenishment schedule of any enzyme product with your own supplier before buying.