Process control automation, near-infrared

PA. Hailey, P. Doherty, P. Tapsell, P.T. Oliver and PK. Aldridge, Automated system for the on-line monitoring of powder blending processes using near-infrared spectroscopy, part 1. system development and control, J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal, 14, 551-559 (1996). 

Miniaturized near-infrared sensors were developed and implemented for online analysis and automated process control to also meet the safety requirements for handling of ozone and halogenating agents [49,50]. A target is to reduce the time from process idea to production (time-to-market) as well as development costs and costs for installation of the production unit. As pharmaceutical industry relies on the manufacture of many different products on smaller scale, and intermediates in quantities ranging from some kilograms to tons per year a modular approach toward a multipurpose microreactor plant is demanded. 

The degree of the instrumentation of pharmaceutical unit operations has increased. This instrumentation provides information on the state of the process and can be used for both process control and research. A central part of optimizing production is increasing the level of automation. Besides monitoring the process parameters, a number of approaches are being developed for measuring the moisture of the product to determine the end point of the process, and consequently the in-process particle size analysis. A number of publications discuss the on-line moisture measurement and process end point determination using near-infrared (NIR). 

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