KnowHow Magzine (english) - Nijhuis Pompen - #9

gH Water

The Norit Nijhuis stand was well attended throughout the exhibition, with visitors drawn to the new Norit design of the stand and unique pump on display. We are more than happy with the interest we got from visitors, which was of course a direct result of our new appearance, but also because of the novelty on display - the BiFlow pump. This is a bi-directional, in-line ballast pump, especially designed for the transport of large amounts of ballast water on ships, where space requirements and piping on ships must be reduced to a minimum, to ensure maximum space for loading.

With this Norit Nijhuis BiFlow pump, symmetrical forward and reverse performance will be achieved. Moreover, this pump makes it possible to limit space and piping, provides a fast control response, and gives low noise and vibration levels. Applications are found - among others - in the maritime industry for static or dynamic ballast control, ship locks and docks, and bow thrusters.

Norit Nijhuis' dedication to tailor-made solutions for customer's needs resulted in the development of this pump for the maritime industry. We have good expectations that our customers will be part of the next product development stage. In addition to that, we were overwhelmed by the number of dredging companies that visited our stand. These companies expect to have a lot of projects in the coming years, in which we have a good chance to be involved. All in all, we are very satisfied with our participation at the Europort Maritime exhibition.

dispose of the empty bottles. In Europe, there are an estimated two million or more water coolers in operation and 75 percent of these are bottled coolers. Every bottled cooler uses an average of 40 five-gallon bottles a year. This means that more than 60 million bottles are transported throughout Europe each year! In contrast, POU coolers need only two filter replacements a year to purify that same amount of water.

It is easy to see that filtered water from a POU water cooler has a much lower carbon footprint and is therefore a much more sus­tainable option. The shift towards POU water coolers will make a significant contribution to solving the world's ever-growing energy, waste and greenhouse concerns.

Of course there's a price to every choice. Every institution makes a decision based on cost and other factors like service, comfort and convenience. In the last decade, individual servings of bottled water have been steadily replaced by water coolers, maybe even more out of convenience than from a costing point-of-view. The latest trend in the water cooler market is a rapid shift from bottled water coolers (typically the five gallon versions) towards point-of-use (POU) or mains fed water coolers.

When you look at both the financial and the environmental costs associated with bottled water, it is easy to see why the market is shift­ing toward POU coolers. First, POU coolers are a much more economical option. Though costs vary depending on the location, on average, water from the tap is around € 0.005 per liter of water. In order to make it a fair comparison of tap water to bottled water, you need to factor in the cost of a premium POU water filter. The Norit H2OK Water Purifier takes tap water up to the level of bottled water for a mere € 0.02 per liter. Bottled water for a cooler will cost up to 20 times as much.

In addition, there are the environmental costs associated with bottled water, which are a growing concern among consumers world­wide. One significant concern is the depletion of the resources, including raw materials, energy and water, required to manufacture and deliver bottled water to consumers. In contrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels. More energy is needed to fill the bottles at the factory and recover, recycle or

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