Process Control and Analysis

Bernhard Lendl and Cosima Koch of the Vienna University of Technology have developed a new method for on-line monitoring of fermentations using mid-infrared spectroscopy.

Infrared spectroscopy is a powerful analysis technique used in the semiconductor industry to ensure the quality of silicon and silicon wafers. The authors discuss the use of an inexpensive, lab-based system to measure carbon and oxygen concentrations in silicon to the level of precision required by the solar silicon industry.

The authors demonstrate the capacity to separate petroleum-derived molecules having the same nominal mass in the mobility dimension using IM-MS spectrometry.

Biofuels such as biodiesel and bioethanol are now the main alternatives to fossil fuels in one of the most pollutant human activities: transportation. The authors report on the use of process analytical technology for mapping raw materials, fingerprinting process trajectories, and calibrating for the most important quality specifications, both for individual chemical and physical attributes or for combined quality attributes, thusleading to more consistent and economically viable processes.

As process analytical technology (PAT) moves out of the laboratory and into the plant and to the process stream itself, the question arises, "What is the best way to collect data from stream samples?" The author shows that this depends upon both the nature of the stream and the components to be measured.