General industrial drivers for process analytics

The growing use of more complex PAT (vs. the historically used simple univariate sensors such as pressure, temperature, pH, etc.) within manufacturing industries is driven by the increased capabilities of these systems to provide scientific and engineering controls. Increasingly complex chemical and physical analyses can be performed in, on, or immediately at the process stream. Drivers to implement PA include the opportunity for live feedback and process control, cycle time reduction, laboratory test replacement as well as safety mitigation. All of these drivers can potentially have a very immediate impact on the bottom line, since product quality and yield may be increased and labor cost reduced. If these benefits can be exploited by a process analytical application then the business case is typically readily available. 

There are several types of PA applications that can accompany the lifespan of a product or process. The drivers, challenges and benefits associated with these types of methods can be very different from process research and development through to full-scale production. 

Finally, PA methods can be used in commercial manufacturing, either as temporary methods for gaining process information or troubleshooting, or as permanent installations for process monitoring and control. The scope of these applications is often more narrowly defined than those in development scenarios. It will be most relevant for manufacturing operations to maintain process robustness and/or reduce variability. Whereas the scientific scope is typically much more limited in permanent installations in production, the practical implementation aspects are typically much more complex than in an R D environment. The elements of safety, convenience and reliability, 

Installation type Temporary, often mobile setup Permanent, hard-wired and integrated 

Flexibility Very flexible to changing needs, continuous method improvement Typically less flexible to change as part of integrated system solution 

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