Batch process automation

H. P. Rosenof and A. Ghosh, Batch Process Automation Theory andPractice, Van Nostrand Reinhold, Co., Inc., New York, 1987. 

Procyk, L.M. 1991. Batch Process Automation. Chemical Engineering, 98(5), 111-117. 

Batch process Automated dispensing or screen-printing... 

Rosenhof, H.P. and Ghosh, A. 1987. Batch Process Automation. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. Seborg, D.E., Edgar, T.F., and Mellichamp, D.A. 2004. Process Dynamics and Control, 2nd ed. Wiley, New York. 

The recipe model is hierarchical, the degree of details depending of the level of the physical model at which the recipe is specified. The standards for batch process automation define four major categories of recipes (Fig. 3) ... 

If a batch process is already modeled in SuperPro Designer, its recipe can be exported to SchedulePro via a recipe database. The same is possible with batch process automation and manufacturing execution systems that foUow the ISA S-88 standards for batch recipe representation. Alternatively, recipes can be created by users directly in SchedulePro. 

The Bucher-Guyer horizontal rotary press is a highly automated batch process machine that requires no press aid. The press consists of a horizontal hydrauhc ram inside a rotating cylinder containing many flexible rods covered with a knitted synthetic fabric. The rods have serrated surfaces to allow juice which passes through the fabric to flow to the discharge ends. Hydrauhc pressure is apphed for a preset time, the ram is retracted, and the cylinder is rotated to break up the press cake. This cycle is repeated several times before the press cake is removed from the cylinder and the press is cleaned (16). Juice yield for this horizontal rotary press is 84% with secondary water addition it is increased to 92% (15). 

Tumbling and centrifuging are batch processes, but all the others can be included in a continuous line process and, for suitable articles, the process can be fully automated. If the shape of the articles is unsuitable, some kind of hand spraying is usually selected. 

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. 

RASHED, M.S., BUCKNALL, M.P., LITTLE, D., AWAD, A., JACOB, M., ALAMOUDI, M., ALWATTAR, M., OZAND, P.T., Screening blood spots for inborn errors of metabolism by electrospray tandem mass spectrometry with a microplate batch process and a computer algorithm for automated flagging of abnormal profiles, Clin. Chem., 1997,43,1129-1141. 

Syringe-barrel cartridges, disk-holders, plastic pipette-tips, well plates vacuum manifolds for semiautomatic batch processing fully automated autosamplers, xyz liquid handlers and robot-controlled work stations. 

Development of batch process in 1987, coupled with fluorescent dideoxy-terminator labeling on target DNA, has allowed determination of fluorescence-tagged DNA sequences, separated on high-resolution slab-gels and more recently separated by capillary electrophoresis. Both separation methods are capable of sequencing up to 700 bases for each reaction. The automated DNA sequencer can simultaneously process up to 100 samples at a time within 3 hours and generate data for 100 unique DNA sequences with about 600-700 bases each. 

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