Automated batch system

Compatibility between sensors and automatic and automated analytical systems is crucial as it allows two Analytical Chemistry trends to be combined (see Fig. 1.1). Probe-type and planar sensors can be used in automated batch systems including robot stations, as well as in continuous (mixed in-line/on-line) systems. On the other hand, flow-through sensors are only compatible with continuous configurations. 

The described automated batching system offers important advantages with regard to data processing and hard-copy printing of the results of the production day. These are (77) ... 

Automated batching systems using scale tanks in margarine production offer a good solution toward higher productivity, better inventory control, accuracy in formulation, reduced labor requirement, and a consistent product. 

Fig, 4. Dosing device for automated batch systems (Hewlett-Packard). For dosing, the sample solution is forced out of the stock capillary tube through a non--return valve on to the column by temporarily limited switching of the solenoid valve. This procedure can be repeated at intervals until the capillary is empty. The number of repeated doses is determined by the capillary volume and the volume per injection. A needle valve is required for exchange of the stock capillary. 

Hydroformyl ati on of Polybutadiene - A number of hydroformyl at ion experiments were performed using the automated batch reactor system in order to synthesize the hydroformylated polybutadiene with varying degree of reaction completion (2 to 20% of the total C=C present). The following reaction conditions were employed PBD = 1.55 x 103 mol/m3, RhH(CO) (P(C6HJ3 )3 = 0.58... 

Development of an automated electroplating system that reduced process chemical usage by 25%, process batch dumps by 20%, and wastewater treatment cost by 25%. 

Development of automated batch process control systems has lagged behind that of continuous process control. Flexible factory scale commercial systems have only begun to appear in the last five years (1-4). Increases in the performance/price ratio of small computers are now making automation of laboratory scale batch processes more practical. 

The philosophies for automation have been described in the foregoing sections. However, to solve an analytical problem there may well be more than one approach that offers potential. The Hterature abounds with methods that have been automated by flow-injection and by continuous-flow methodologies. Also, very often a procedure which involves several stages prior to the actual measurement can be configured by combining two of the approaches. An example of this is the automated Quinizarium system described by Tucker et al. [46]. This was a continuous extraction followed by a hatch extraction which is finally completed by a batch measurement on a discrete sample for quantification and measurement. Whereas sample preparation is almost always required, there is no doubt in my mind that the best approach to this area of activity is to avoid it totally. The application of near infra-red spectroscopy is an example of this strategy. 

The development of catalytic systems using neat water as solvent is of high importance to industrial and environmentally friendly applications. In this respect, water is perhaps the ultimate solvent because of its lack of toxicity and ready availability. Leadbeater has published several papers where the Suzuki-Miyaura reaction has been optimized for aqueous conditions [9,120]. Aryl bromides and iodides were coupled and the corresponding products isolated in good yields with an attractive ligandless protocol. Some reactions gave increased yields with the addition of tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) [121], Recently, an application for a scaled-up Suzuki-Miyaura synthesis in water using an automated batch stop-flow apparatus was also published (Scheme 46) [89]. 

The CMR and MBRs provided the basis for modern commercial microwave reactors, including robotically operated automated systems that are now widely employed in synthetic research and pilot-scale laboratories in academia and industry [13]. Since 2000, commercial microwave reactors have become available. Batch systems, produced by three major companies in Italy and Germany, Sweden and the United States, typically operate on a scale from 0.5 mL up to 2 L. Other companies based in Austria, Poland and Japan have also recently entered the market. Systems possessing either multimodal or monomodal cavities are produced with one recent addition being a single unit capable of performing in either mode as required. Microwave reactors are employed extensively in chemical discovery where successive reactions can be performed rapidly in parallel or sequentially. One manufacturer recently estimated that about 10000 reactions per week were performed in its systems alone. This indicates the extent to which microwave chemistry in closed vessels has dramatically influenced approaches to synthesis. 

It is important to recognize that a production reactor is not simply a reaction chamber. If it is a low pressure unit, there will be a vacuum system which can be quite complex. There will be a gas panel which regulates gas mass flow into the chamber. The method of heating the wafers and/or the entire chamber has to be chosen carefully. Wafer transport involves many tradeoffs, and for batch systems if any degree of automation is required, will be quite involved. Finally, most production reactors these days operate under microprocessor control, and quite a lot of software must be developed. 

Starch slurry make-down systems are designed to prepare a uniform suspension, using batch or continuous systems. In modem paper mills, automated batch or continuous systems are used. Water content and bulk density will affect the flow of dry starch.90 In the batch slurry system, weighed increments of starch are drawn from the silo and periodically added to a measured quantity of water in the make-up tank. The suspension is screened and automatically pumped to a larger storage tank on demand by a level transmitter. Continuous make-down of starch slurry is accomplished by simultaneously feeding starch and water at controlled rates into the slurry make-down tank. The dry starch is metered with a volumetric screw feeder. The slurry is screened before dispersion by batch or continuous cooking. 

One of the most successful applications of microsystem technology is the use of pTAS in diagnostics [332-335]. Microreactors have been integrated into automated analytical systems, which eliminate errors associated with manual protocols. Furthermore microreactors can be coupled with numerous detection techniques and pretreatment of samples can be carried out on the chip. In addition, analytical systems that comprise microreactors are expected to display outstanding reproducibility by replacing batch iterative steps and discrete sample treatment by flow injection systems. The possibility of performing similar analyses in parallel is an attractive feature for screening and routine use. 

Lastly, the semi-automated batch operating mode of the ultraCLAVE facilitates high throughput reaction screening and full system automation is feasible. 

The system is specifically designed for semi-automated batch processing of samples. Full automation is possible by interfacing a laboratory robot to load/unload samples. 

Scale tank systems or automatic batching systems are used in the margarine industry in order to meet today s requirements with regard to automation, accuracy, labor cost reduction, productivity, and inventory control (75, 82). 

As an example, I will use the determinations of DOC and DON, partly because the discussions are very recent and partly because they are very familiar to me. The question of the accuracy of measurements of DOC in seawater has been disputed at least since the publications of Putter [62] and Krogh [63] the early work has been reviewed at length in an earher pubhcation [64]. While a variety of wet oxidation methods [65] were proposed for marine samples, the use of persulfate [35] provided the first real approach to a standard method. Persulfate oxidation, however, hke all purely chemical oxidations, was a batch process, and not easily automated. A number of workers proposed photo oxidation using ultraviolet (UV) hght [66-70], and automated analytical systems which produced data almost in real time were soon constructed [71-73]. Commercial units soon appeared, but many of the units in the field were jerry-built, constructed out of parts scavenged from discarded autoanalyzers formerly used for nutrient analysis. 

As a result of the recent developments, separation and preconcentration procedures by precipitation, originally requiring hours of operation and a few hundred milliliters of sample and reagent in the conventional batch mode, may now be completed in less than a minute with an automated FI system, while consuming a few milliliters of sample and reagent. Risks of contamination are also drastically reduced in the FI systems, which in turn improves the reliability and precision of the determinations. 

Two modes of operation can be applied for the hydride generation technique (i) In the normal batch system, the whole sample is reduced in a hydride generator and the hydride formed transported in a carrier gas stream to an absorption tube (ii) In the flow injection (FIA) technique all stages of the hydride generation method take place in a fully automated closed system. The FIA system is discussed in section 6.3. 

The above limitations with solid phase chemistries have necessitated the pursuit of solution-phase chemistries for library generation. The advantages of solution-phase syntheses are legion, but the major benefits include unlimited numbers and types of reaction, lower requirements of solvents and reagents compared to solid phase syntheses and that such chemistries can be developed and monitored with relative ease. A conventional solution-phase chemical synthesis involves the use of arrays of sub millimeter wells as discrete reaction vessels to which the reagents are delivered using automated robotic systems. Although such systems have been successful, the batch nature of... 

While the market needs were met with a high batch size of standardized products a few years ago, the current assembly and production lines have to be flexible and agile in order to satisfy the requirements of customers. Due to these requirements, optimized manual assembly systems have become an alternative to automated production systems (Feldmann and Junker 2003). Nowadays, around half of companies use some kind of automation of assembly (Butala et al. 2002). 

We elected to wash the oxide using a batch process. This allows for greater process flexibility and enables us to segregate material that might contain impurities that need to be fed at a reduced rate to the plant. The batch system is also easy to automate and does not require constant operator intervention. The overall washing process is best described by the flowsheet shown in Figure 1. 

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