Selection of optimal process analyzers for plant-wide monitoring

In this paper, the effect of process analyzer selection and positioning on plant-wide process monitoring is investigated. A fundamental problem in process analytical chemistry is the incomparability of different instrument characteristics. A fast but imprecise instrument is incomparable to a slow but precise instrument. Theory is developed to overcome this problem by using an abstract definition of a process analyzer. This definition allows us to put all instrument characteristics for a particular monitoring task on an equal footing. This results in a measurability factor M that expresses monitoring performance of any process measurement by combining instrument characteristics such as precision, sampling rate, grab size, response correlation, and delay time. Both the choice of location and the performance characteristics of different process analyzers can be evaluated using the measurability factor. The unifying nature of the measurability factor allows for a rational decision between completely different process analyzers and locations (Smilde et al., in this issue). The theory is illustrated and validated with an experiment. A tubular reactor for free-radical bulk polymerization of styrene is monitored by in-line short-wave near-infrared spectroscopy at different positions. Alternatively, product samples are collected for at-line near-infrared analysis. Both analyzers measure styrene monomer concentration. The analysis results are used to predict conversion as well as number and weight average molecular mass of the polystyrene reactor product. The theoretical measurability factors for this case study correspond well with the experimental findings.