Our CEO, Wayne Preece, explains why a substantial upgrade of Hydro’s laboratories is underway at our research centre in Wales.
The word “lab” conjures certain images for some of us, probably associated with school. I’m thinking white coats, test tubes, Bunsen burner, maybe some microscopes. During my tenure at Hydro it’s been reassuring to see some Pyrex dishes in play alongside the more sophisticated tools of electro-chemists, but what we are installing now is truly humbling.
The purpose of our research centre is pretty straightforward. Clients send us samples of the contaminated liquids. We break them down to establish what exactly is there and analyse what we need to take them out.
This work will never stop. But we are now exploring another angle. We are basically creating a catalogue of friendly microbes and testing them to establish which pollutants each one is capable of targeting.
The potential is there if using natural organic materials to clean up rivers, lakes, oceans and man-made pools of dirty water. And our teams will know which agent to use in different scenarios.
Building that capability is an ambitious task. In the past we would have needed vast space, expensive incubators and a lot of human effort to explore what was working well and what was not.
But we’re now creating a smart lab where the same space can be put to much better use and help our scientists to stay ahead of the game
The future is now – or very close at least.
