ORBITAL TO TALK PURITY, CONTAINMENT AND COMPLIANCE AT CHEMUK

Orbital Fabrications Limited, the Cambridgeshire-based UK market leader in specialist gas and liquid handling systems for many industrial and scientific manufacturing processes, comes to CHEMUK with a message that the performance demands in critical gas and liquid handling applications are reaching ever-higher levels.

With over three decades’ experience in the design, manufacture and installation of process gas and liquid handling systems for sectors including semiconductor, life sciences, pharma and, latterly, hydrogen fuel manufacture, Orbital is the UK leader in its field. The company also works closely with academic institutions and tech start-ups developing the technologies of the future.

“We are seeing a trend across all these sectors for higher specifications in terms of materials, containment and purity,” says Orbital’s Sales Manager David Richards. “The reasons are varied: higher-specification end products require processes to match, more potent active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) require higher containment levels to prevent operator exposure, and nanotechnology, which operates at the molecular level, making the purity of process gases and liquids imperative.”

High-quality vessels and components

Responding to these demands, Orbital offers a range of vessels custom-designed for managing high-potency products and ingredients, with flawless welds and polished finishes to ensure secure handling and complete discharge of products during transfer, as well as ease of cleaning. Selection of high-grade raw materials is important too, and where third-party components are required for liquid or gas handling systems, Orbital uses only suppliers recognised as best-in-class.

Orbital’s in-house design and manufacturing capabilities are complemented by an extensive team of on-site installation engineers qualified to work in the most demanding industrial environments.

Written scheme of examination (WSE)

The company was founded in 1988, a year before the UK’s first legislation governing the safety of pressure systems was introduced. The current legislation, the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 (PSSR) obliges operators of qualifying pressure systems to have a written scheme of examination (WSE) in place before the system is operated and to serve as the basis for annual inspections to ensure continued safety and system integrity. “No company is better placed than Orbital to certify the safety of pressure systems,” says Richards, “so we are pleased to announce that we are now offering WSE services through our team of Pressure Safe-trained engineers to users of pressure systems supplied by third parties, as well as to our own customers.”