Troubleshooting and Optimization

We will start by reviewing the wetted surface from reservoir to flow cell output. I will discuss the minimum tools and spare parts you should have on hand and when to use them as well as a strange-sounding technique to cut your solvent usage. A systematic approach to locating problems will be presented next. Then we ll look at how to get the most out of data acquisition hardware. 

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Have you ever tried to decide which was the best article you ever read For me, the answer comes quickly. It is How to Operate an Amine Plant. by Don Ballard. This article has helped me more than any other. I have gone back to the article time after time to troubleshoot and optimize amine plants. In addition, the article has design tips and shortcut rules of thumb developed by field experience. 

The use of instruments that log and archive data facilitates remote monitoring of process performance and can improve plant troubleshooting and optimization and provide high-level data for enterprise-wide supply chain management. 

An understanding of the mechanisms of solid-phase extraction (SPE) are crucial for effective methods development. The four mechanisms outlined in Chapter 2 are sufficient for the majority of SPE and are an effective set of tools for methods development. The molecule s structure and the sample matrix are the main features used to choose a mechanism of isolation and separation. This chapter will discuss a six-step approach to methods development, how to execute the SPE recovery experiment, troubleshooting and optimizing conditions for the SPE recovery experiment, and how to critically evaluate previously published methods. 

Radioisotopes were first appfied for industrial problem solving around the middle of the last century. Since then, their use has increased steadily. Today various applications of radioisotopes, as sealed sources and as radiotracers, are well established throughout the world for troubleshooting and optimization of industrial process plants. Petrochemical and chemical process industries are the main users and beneficiaries of the radioisotope technology. 

IAEA (2002). Radioisotope Applications for Troubleshooting and Optimizing Industrial Processes, RCA in India, March, 2002... 

Li et al. [27] used NIR spectroscopy to troubleshoot and optimize a wet granulation process. During development phases, authors realized that out-of-trend content uniformity values were obtained for some sieve cuts due to the interaction of the excipients and the binding solution during the coalescence process. A qualitative method was put in place to determine within different sieve fractions the change in content uniformity. Other process optimization methods involving NIR were described by Miwa et al. [28-30]. They used moisture levels predicted by NIR for independent components to estimate a lower and an upper limit for the amount of water needed to granulate a multicomponent system. 

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