This year’s Nobel Prize ceremonies will take place during the week commencing October 7 and will pay homage to the greatest minds in medicine, physics, chemistry and peace. Set up in 1901, the Nobel Prizes are regarded as the most prestigious awards in the world and should be presented, according to their founder, Alfred Nobel, to “those who, during the preceding year ... have conferred the greatest benefits on mankind”.
This seems a little bit ironic, given that Alfred Nobel’s own greatest invention was dynamite.
It’s not just the financial reward that makes the Nobel Prizes so important, but the international recognition of the winners’ achievements. The prizes are synonymous with innovation and are regarded by some as the highest intellectual honour that can be awarded to an individual or organisation. Through their work, the winners seek to advance human knowledge and create solutions for the world’s problems. Or create more problems, who knows?
Similarly, the Ig Nobel Prizes honour achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. For example, the 2013 physics winner discovered that some people would be physically capable of running across the surface of a pond – if those people and the pond were on the moon!
Here at Verder we believe the technological milestones that represent breakthroughs in every field should also be celebrated. There are many smaller, silent inventions, which make daily life much simpler for people and organisations, despite not getting international recognition. Take postage stamps or bottle openers for instance. Where would we be without them?
These silent, low-profile innovations exist in every field and can make huge differences in how quickly and efficiently things get done.
Chemical dosing
In the water industry for example, chemical dosing is an innovation which might go unnoticed despite making an enormous difference to the way in which the sector operates. Richard P. Feynman, Nobel physics Nobel winner in of 1965, once blurted out, “If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn't have been worth the Nobel Prize.” Chemical dosing is somewhat easier to understand. It is the delivery of a chemical substance into foul water, sewage or sewage, with the purpose of treating the water and making it suitable to go back in the environment.
While you might think that this technology is useful only for sewage treatment, the truth is that many organisations can benefit from chemical dosing. Can you imagine taking a dip in the local pool without it being first appropriately dosed with chlorine?
Flexible approach
A Verder UK Dosing System is innovative in many ways, but the main advantage is that it is tailored to each customer’s specific requirements and uses the existing facilities and materials on site. This significantly lowers the costs for the customer, because Verder is able to provide just the required functionality, or even retrofit or recover equipment.
The Verder UK project team, aka the Verder ‘A-TEAM’, is an in-house engineering group that manages and installs chemical dosing solutions as well as providing other services. The highly professional team focuses on using existing equipment on site, conducting surveys and risk assessments and performing all the groundwork.
Everything they do can be modelled in 3D computer aided design (CAD) software, from the pipework, to the cabinets and pumps themselves. Before installation, the system is first fire tested at the Verder Service Centre.
Quality pumps
A chemical dosing skid is one of the most effective ways to dispense chemicals. It uses at least two peristaltic or metering pumps attached to pipe work encased in a cabinet. The Verder Dura 45 is among these innovative hose pumps. It is highly compact, easy to maintain and reduces the footprint by up to 70% compared to regular peristaltic pumps. It is also very quick and easy to maintain.
Crystal or liquid chemicals
Speaking of crystals, don’t let your mind wonder to Breaking Bad just yet! The patented dual-delivery system allows Verder pumps to release both liquid and crystal chemicals. Using crystal based chemicals is more cost-effective, saves on deliveries to site, reduces the carbon footprint and is easier to manage in situ, as it just needs to be mixed with water. Finally, crystal chemicals spillages are also easier to manage.
Removing phosphates is an essential part of water treatment. It is normally done by using an iron-based chemical solution like ferrous and ferric sulphate or chloride. Ferrous sulphate can also come in the form of copperas crystals. Verder’s pumps also cater for this option, which is often less expensive and more convenient.
Verder has already completed successful projects with most water companies in the UK. For any chemical dosing project, Verder is a one-stop shop that offers cost-effective, tailored solutions that take into consideration the company profile and existing facilities. And we’re friendly too!
If we do say so ourselves, our chemical dosing technology is a great example of a silent innovation that could easily go unnoticed despite significant benefits for both business and the environment. While chemical dosing is unlikely to receive international recognition from the Nobel committee any time soon, they can prove to be lifesavers, both for Verder clients and for everyone that relies on clean water.
