An Independent Family Owned Company

Dr Graham Rideal - CEO
1948 - 2020

Dr Graham Rideal - From a Building of the Past to a Laboratory of the Future

Dr Graham Rideal followed in the footsteps of the Rideal family’s long-established line of research scientists, which arguably began with Dr Samuel Rideal’s pioneering work into Water Purification, Filtration and Sterilisation in the late Victorian/early Edwardian period. Along with his co-worker Dr JTA Walker, they developed the Rideal-Walker test to calibrate the efficacy of disinfectants such as Dettol, a derivation of which is still used today in all their media promotions: ‘Kills 99.9% of all known germs’.

He was succeeded by his son, Professor Sir Eric Rideal, an eminent scientist both in water purification and colloid science at Cambridge University. In recognition of his work, he was elected as president of the Faraday Society, the Society of Chemical Industry and the Chemical Society. His legacy, the Rideal Travel bursary, administrated through the Royal Society of Chemistry, has benefitted many students since his death in 1974 and still continues today.

Charging and Expansion

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Video Support

Engineering or technology is all about using the power of science to make life better for people, to reduce cost, to improve comfort, to improve productivity, etc.

Operating Requirements

Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.

Like his predecessors, Dr Graham Rideal was also involved in research and development into filtration systems and, through his company Whitehouse Scientific, which he founded in 1983, has developed several unique and absolute methods of filter characterisation. In the process, he as published over 100 patents, peer reviewed papers and magazine articles on the use of glass microspheres both for certifying filters and as calibrants for particle size measuring instruments.

One of his most successful inventions was in developing a sonic pore sizing instrument for calibrating crude oil sand screens. When extracting oil from deep underground, any sand contamination can result in multimillion dollar breakdowns. Tuning the pore sizes of the stainless steel meshes to the exact particle size of the sand particles, not only prevents catastrophic breakdowns, but significantly reduces the operational energy costs.

Charging and Expansion

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Video Support

Engineering or technology is all about using the power of science to make life better for people, to reduce cost, to improve comfort, to improve productivity, etc.

Operating Requirements

Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.

Calibration beads on a sieve mesh.
Dr Rideal and Ray Mears Investigating pollution in the Canadian Northern Territories

After serving on the committee for over 15 years, Dr Rideal was elected as General Secretary/President of The Filtration Society and was the editor-in chief of the new electronic version of its journal, FILTRATION.

As the largest producer of certified particle size reference materials, Whitehouse Scientific standards can now be found in almost every particle sizing laboratory in the world.

In addition to their use as certified reference standards, the glass microspheres have found many varied and unusual applications such as nuclear fallout studies following the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster, the desulphurisation of flue gas in coal fired power stations, and cosmic dust impact on the materials of construction of the International Space Station such as the outer skin and solar panels. More recently, they were used by the University of Kent in testing the cosmic dust impact resistance of the British astronaut Tim Peake’s helmet visor.

Whitehouse Scientific also calibrates the fuel propellant filters used in the rockets that take the astronauts to the space station.

Charging and Expansion

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Video Support

Engineering or technology is all about using the power of science to make life better for people, to reduce cost, to improve comfort, to improve productivity, etc.

Operating Requirements

Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.

On a literally more down-to-earth application, the Whitehouse Scientific laboratory has been used in aircraft crash investigations where faulty fuel filters were suspected in bringing down the plane at London Heathrow.

Dr Rideal took a keen interest in the environment recognising that filtration is a powerful solution in cleaning up and preventing pollution in the world. As part of his investigation into intercontinental pollution, and following his research of cleaning flue gas from burning coal, he went on an expedition with Ray Mears to the Canadian Northern Territories to investigate the problem first hand. In an interview with a First Nation community leader, he discovered that entire communities have been lost to pollution, which destroyed their environment and their way of life.

When building his new laboratory therefore, he incorporated the most energy efficient building materials available and installed a biomass boiler and solar panels to provide the heat and air conditioning. There is also a large rain harvesting system to supplement the water supply. What was an old 19th century barn has now been converted into an ultra-modern, state-of-the -art laboratory with a record breaking energy efficiency and one of the lowest carbon footprint laboratories in the UK.

Charging and Expansion

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Video Support

Engineering or technology is all about using the power of science to make life better for people, to reduce cost, to improve comfort, to improve productivity, etc.

Operating Requirements

Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.

Whitehouse Scientific Laboratory
No items found.
An 11Kw solar panel system supplies the energy for the air conditioning

The name Whitehouse Scientific was taken from The White House Antique shop, which Graham's wife Liz established in 1978 to renovate and sell stripped pine furniture. Graham’s woodworking skills came in very useful when he created the period office in the new laboratory using reclaimed antique pine.

In former years, The White House was known as The Brown Cow pub and had some very useful beer cellars. It was in these cellars that first small laboratory was set up, originally to classify very fine industrial diamonds and later to produce the first particle size and filter calibration standards.

Charging and Expansion

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Video Support

Engineering or technology is all about using the power of science to make life better for people, to reduce cost, to improve comfort, to improve productivity, etc.

Operating Requirements

Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.

From these humble beginnings, Whitehouse Scientific rapidly developed and was soon elected as the foremost particle size analysis laboratory in Europe after a round robin evaluation of forty competing laboratories.

More recent filter characterisation research has involved the performance testing of face masks used against COVID. It was disturbing to discover that even surgical face masks offered little resistance to the penetration of Corona virus aerosol droplets, while vented dust masks were not fit for purpose allowing the discharge of even the largest saliva droplet from the wearer.

Dr Rideal was very proactive in inspiring young people into science careers and regularly gave science talks to both primary and secondary schools in the area. He also gave opportunities to undergraduate and postgraduates to work on research projects in his laboratory. He sat on an advisory panel at the University of Chester engineering department to advise on syllabus topics from an industrial perspective.

Charging and Expansion

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Video Support

Engineering or technology is all about using the power of science to make life better for people, to reduce cost, to improve comfort, to improve productivity, etc.

Operating Requirements

Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.

Is this the smallest one you’ve got Papa?

In his spare time, Graham was a keen amateur musician playing clarinet and saxophones in an orchestra and band. He used his skills on a voluntary basis to play in local primary schools and to raise money for the children’s wing of the local hospital.

He even played at social events at the World Filtration Congress and other international Filtration conferences.

Charging and Expansion

The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.

Video Support

Engineering or technology is all about using the power of science to make life better for people, to reduce cost, to improve comfort, to improve productivity, etc.

Operating Requirements

Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.

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