Severn Trent Engineer Wins WWEM 2016 Competition

To promote SEAL’s flared tubing for peristaltic pumps on instruments including ICP, visitors to the SEAL Analytical exhibition stand at WWEM 2016 were invited to guess the number of sample cups (in ‘flared’ champagne flutes) in a competition to win a bottle of Champagne. The winning entry was made by Peter Evans, Principal ICA Engineer at Severn Trent Water. Peter was presented with the champagne by SEAL Technical Support Chemist Sadie Vick at the Trimpley treatment works in Worcestershire, overlooking the Trimpley Reservoir which is supplied by the nearby river Severn.

Peter’s main responsibilities involve monitoring and control instrumentation, however, he says: “The WWEM events provide a great opportunity to see all of the latest technologies in one place – for both process and laboratory monitoring. This year’s event was the busiest yet with more new products on show than ever before.”

SEAL’s flared tubing was developed to solve a common irritation in many laboratories. Sadie explains: “We take a standard pump tube and make both ends a little bigger. This allows the connection of two different sized tubes without the usual struggle. An example is the pump tubing used for the internal standard on an ICP-OES/ICP-MS which usually has an ID of 0.2 to 0.4mm and is incompatible with the sample tubing OD of 1.3mm. The flared end of this pump tubing allows the larger sample capillary tubing to be inserted.

“The flared ends therefore make connection faster and easier, however the key benefit is that they also prevent blockages and thereby avoid down time – it’s a simple solution, but the best ones usually are!”

SEAL Analytical also featured the new ‘SmartBlock II’ range of digestion blocks and the new AQ400 automated discrete analyser at WWEM 2016, which meant that theirs was one of the busiest stands in the entire exhibition. The two day event also included over 50 workshops and 8 Conferences.

Several of the WWEM Conference speakers referred to an increased requirement for analytical capability due to the UKWIR Chemical Investigation Programme, and Sadie says: “This was reflected in the number of enquiries that we received for our high-throughput automated analysers, with phosphate and cyanide analysis featuring highly among the visitors’ requests.”

As a result of the level of interest shown in the use of flared tubing to save time and money, SEAL Analytical UK is now offering trial samples. Interested laboratories should simply call 01489 864 400 to make a request.