Chemometrics in process analytical chemistry

Process analytical (PAC, PAT) applications differ from laboratory analytical applications in several ways  

As a resnlt, process analytical applications tend to focus more on automation, minimization of maintenance, and long-term reliabihty. In this more pragmatic context, the instrument specialization function of chemometrics is used even more exclusively than the information extraction function. 

An additional feature of chemometrics that is appealing to process analytical applications is the use of qualitative models to detect and characterize faults in the analyzer system (calibration, instrument, sampling interface, and sampling systems), sample chemistry, and process dynamics. Such faults can be used to trigger preventive maintenance, and to troubleshoot- thus supporting the long-term reliability of the analyzer system. Specihc examples of such fault detection are given in references [15-16]. 

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