Laboratory differences between industrial

I thought it may be of interest, especially to academic chemists, for me to discuss some of my experiences in research on phosphorus chemistry in an industrial laboratory. In thinking back on my experiences as an industrial chemist, I found that there really isn t very much difference between industrial and academic research. I know that some of my academic friends think otherwise. The other day a professor friend called to tell me about two of his former students, who are husband and wife. The professor said that the wife had found an industrial position, but the husband was having difficulty finding a tenure-track teaching position. 1 asked him why didn t the husband also try for an industrial position. The professor s quick reply was "But he is much too good a scientist to go into industry "... 

Often poly(ethylene glycol)s or derivatives thereof can be used instead of crowns or onium salts advantageously, although their catalytic activity frequently tends to be somewhat lower. The possible toxicity of crowns and cryptands and the price difference between these compounds and onium salts (100 1 to 10 1) are other important factors to be considered. Thus (1) [17455-13-9] (2) [14187-32-7] and (3) [16069-36-6] and cryptands are used more often in laboratory work, whereas onium salts are more important for industrial processes. 

Deviation refractometers are the most commonly used. This version of the DRI measures the deflection in the location of a light beam on the surface of a photodiode by the difference in refractive index between the polymer solution and pure solvent. The Fresnel-type refractometers operate on the principle that the intensity of light reflected from a glass-liquid interface is dependent on the incident angle and the RI difference between the two phases. The deviation and Fresnel detectors typically have cell volumes of 5 to 10 pi, detection limits of about 5 x 10-6 refractive index units (RIU), and a range of 10 7 to 10 3 RIU.156 The deflection-type DRI is relatively insensitive to the buildup of contaminants on the sample cell and is therefore of special utility in laboratories that process large numbers of samples, such as industrial laboratories. 

As there now exists a large body of laboratory studies on each of the variable systems, for example the effect of the lime/silica ratio in the slag on the desulphurization of liquid iron, the most appropriate phase compositions can be foreseen to some extent from these laboratory studies when attempting to optimize the complex industrial process. The factorial trials are not therefore a shot in the dark , but should be designed to take into account the laboratory information. Any qualitative difference between the results of a factorial trial, and the expectations predicted from physico-chemical analysis might suggest the presence of a variable which is important, but which was not included in the trials. 

One of the most common laboratory techniques for determining the concentration of a solute is titration. Titrations are used daily to monitor water purity and blood composition, and for quality control in the food industry. The solution being analyzed is called the analyte, and a known volume is transferred into a flask. Then a solution containing a known concentration of reactant is measured into the flask from a narrow calibrated cylinder called a buret until all the analyte has reacted (Fig. L.2). The solution in the buret is called the titrant, and the difference between the initial and final volume readings of the buret tells us the volume of titrant that has drained into the flask. The determination of concentration or amount by measuring volume is called volumetric analysis. 

The pervaporation process to separate liquid mixtures is shown schematically in Figure 9.1. A feed liquid mixture contacts one side of a membrane the permeate is removed as a vapor from the other side. Transport through the membrane is induced by the vapor pressure difference between the feed solution and the permeate vapor. This vapor pressure difference can be maintained in several ways. In the laboratory, a vacuum pump is usually used to draw a vacuum on the permeate side of the system. Industrially, the permeate vacuum is most economically generated by cooling the permeate vapor, causing it to condense condensation spontaneously creates a partial vacuum. 

On the laboratory scale, turbidities of the musts fined with lupin or gluten were nearly equal after flotation, and higher than the turbidity of the must clarified with FG. Flowever, industrial trials have shown that differences between plant and animal protein efficiencies were lower than those obtained using a laboratory fiotator. More, the sedimentation step following the flotation reduces these differences. 

In this question of the importance of error we have one of the principal differences between laboratory and industrial, or plant scale, experimentation. The laboratory experimenter is generally in the fortunate position of bring able to have all his independent variables under complete control his materials can be of the highest possible purity his measuring apparatus can all be of the highest accuracy, and usually his errors are small. 

The scale-up of monolith reactors is expected to be much simpler. This is due to the fact that the only difference between the laboratory and industrial monolith reactors is the number of monolith channels, provided that the inlet flow distribution is satisfactory. In slurry reactors, scale-up problems might appear. These are connected with reactor geometry, low gas superficial velocity, nonuniform catalyst concentration in the liquid, and a significant back-mixing of the gas phase. 

Therefore, Rank et al. (1995) constructed an automated ET for process monitoring. The equipment was installed inside a steel cabinet with cool, filtered air to keep the temperature sufficiently constant. The enzyme column had to be protected against microbial growth by adding sodium azide to the buffer solution. These facts show an obvious strong difference between biosensor employment in research laboratories and industrial plants. 

In fact differences between laboratory, pilot and industrial plant implementations are numerous, including ... 

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