Industrial Production Process Monitoring

The application potential of acoustic chemometrics is illustrated below by examples from the following types of industrial processes  

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Acoustic Chemometric Monitoring of Industrial Production Processes 285 9.3 Industrial Production Process Monitoring... 

Acoustic Chemometric Monitoring of Industrial Production Processes... 

The acoustic chemometric approach can also be used to monitor industrial production processes involving particles and powders and to provide a complementary tool for process operators for more efficient process control, or to monitor particle movement in a fluidized bed [7] for example. Below we illustrate the application potential by focusing on two applications process monitoring of a granulation process and monitoring of ammonia concentration. 

The release of PCDD/PCDF from transport activities was estimated to be very minimal and not reported for uncontrolled combustion processes (Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2004). In the Department of Environment Malaysia 1997 report, the major sources of air pollution in 1996 were motor vehicles, 82%, power stations, 9%, industrial fuel burning, 5%, industrial production processes, 3%, domestic and commercial furnaces, 0.2%, and open burning at solid waste disposal sites, 0.8% (Afroz et al., 2003). Leaded gasoline has been phased out since 1998 and most cars have been fitted with catalytic converters since then. Consequently, a minimal release of PCDD/PCDF is expected from motor vehicles that are mainly from diesel-powered vehicles. The released air pollutions monitored were CO, N02, S02, 03, and suspended particulate matters. 

In the area of consumer products, amperometric glucose sensors hold high potential. Industrially, process monitors for the manufacture of consumer chemicals are under development. However, replacement of defective reference electrodes, which in a laboratory environment may be trivial, may be prohibitively difficult m vivo or in an industrial process environment. 

The ER system has been used successfully in a range of industries for process plant monitoring. As ER can be applied in any liquid or gaseous environment the areas of application are considerable. However, there is a problem with ER if a conductive corrosion product is produced as is the case with sour crude oil or gas due to the deposition of iron sulphide. 

HPLC is extremely useful in monitoring and optimizing industrial processes. Conventional process monitors measure only bulk properties, such as the temperature and pressure of a reactor, while HPLC permits continuous realtime monitoring of consumption of starting materials, product composition, and impurity profile. There are a number of new initiatives relevant to HPLC for process monitoring, including sample preparation, automation, miniaturization, and specialized detectors. 

Recent developments in microsystems technology have led to the widespread application of microfabrication techniques for the production of sensor platforms. These techniques have had a major impact on the development of so-called Lab-on-a-Chip devices. The major application areas for theses devices are biomedical diagnostics, industrial process monitoring, environmental monitoring, drug discovery, and defence. In the context of biomedical diagnostic applications, for example, such devices are intended to provide quantitative chemical or biochemical information on samples such as blood, sweat and saliva while using minimal sample volume. 

As will become obvious in this chapter, UV-vis spectroscopy is a valuable tool for process analytics in a wide range of industrial applications, be it in production-related R D or in actual process monitoring and control. An overview of reviews for the various fields is given in Table 4.1. 

Monitor the overall granulator process state, to detect critical situations and to visualize these situations as early warnings in an operator-friendly fashion (lump formation and clogging of the bottom plate are the most important mishaps in the industrial production setting). 

M. Halstensen, P. de Bakker, K.H. Esbensen, Acoustic chemometric monitoring of an industrial granulation production process - a PAT feasibility study, Chemom. Intell. Lab. Syst., 84, 88-97 (2006). 

Process monitoring and control of API production, sans the regulatory environment, is analogous to that within the chemical industry. Since the early 1990s, numerous papers have been published noting on-line specnoscopic techniques as applied to API reaction monitoring. A representation of some of these on-line specnoscopic reaction monitoring techniques will be provided herein with additional information discussed in Chapter 15. 

The lead time, for incorporation of enzymes as an adjunct in whatever form into commercial food processes, appears to be far longer than equivalent innovation lead times m non-food, or even pharmaceutical processes. The exception to this finding is that there are enzymes which play an important role in many analytical and quality control procedures in the food industry, without the use of which, for batch or continuous process monitoring, many product lines would not be possible. 

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