Chemical dosing – finding the best solution

Planning a new chemical dosing project requires several elements to be in place in order to achieve a successful outcome that is cost-effective and delivers reliability. From the initial design stages, working closely with the customer to determine their requirements, to final testing, delivery and commissioning, it is essential to offer a flexible and pragmatic approach.

The numerous components and the variety of designs mean that the manufacturer of the chemical dosing equipment needs to have a solid supply chain that understands the importance of reliability and how their products affect performance.

Joint responsibility

For end-users who need chemical dosing skids, the priorities are reliability and effective after sales support for all the components of the system. Having been in the business for more than 30 years, Chemical Support Systems (CSS) understands the importance of using the best components in its products.

Ian Bishop, Engineering Director at CSS, explains: “The reliability of our dosing systems is wholly reliant on the choices we make in terms of suppliers and our ability to integrate all the equipment in a robust system. We depend on our suppliers to provide technical expertise as well as worldwide field support that matches our own capabilities.”

The majority of dosing systems are bespoke builds for individual applications. Each customer has their own requirements, and the process starts with the initial meetings and dialogue to discuss their needs. CSS’ business is driven by repeat orders and recommendations, making their reputation so important for future growth.

Flexibility in design

Ian continues: “I believe one of our main strengths is the flexibility we offer, being able to quickly adapt and change the skid manufacturing to suit the customer’s requirements on design changes. We also manufacture the systems completely in-house, which again allows us to quickly adapt and change the design with minimal time lost while keeping the cost variations to a minimum.”

This flexibility is supported by suppliers such as Bürkert, which have a long-standing relationship with CSS, providing a robust supply chain that can match demand. This extends beyond the simple supply of components, it also needs to provide after-sales support in every market.

The importance of this understanding was highlighted early in Bürkert’s partnership with CSS. A standard chemical dosing skid had been supplied to a long-standing customer in the pulp and paper industry for the control of odour and slime. The relationship between CSS and the end user had been reinforced by the quality workmanship, reliability and aftersales support for the skids.

Continuous improvement

However, repeated failures of the pneumatic valve island, which had been supplied by another OEM, caused considerable downtime and associated costs. To resolve the situation, CSS needed to find a cost-effective and reliable alternative and turned to Bürkert for a solution.

At the time, the Type 8653 valve island was a new product line and Bürkert was able to configure it to suit the specific process requirements of the application. Since its introduction, it has proven to be a robust and reliable replacement. It also offered additional benefits of network control, simplifying integration and providing greatly improved diagnostics.