Center for Workshops in the Chemical Sciences

Pratical Aspects of Process Analytical Chemistry

Dan Watts (New Jersey Institute of Technology),

Process Analytical Chemistry is an important and growing area of industrial analytical chemistry which receives little attention in academic courses, primarily because faculty have little opportunity to acquire first-hand exposure to this predominately industrial discipline. While there are a few interdisciplinary programs at the graduate level, little material suitable for introducing the subject to upper division undergraduates exists. This is precisely when such information is needed, because post-undergraduate plans are being made in the junior and senior years.

The Practical Aspects of Process Analytical Chemistry (PAPAC) workshop for college and university analytical chemistry and chemical engineering faculty will build on the success of a similar one held at the Dow Chemical Company site in Freeport, Texas, in January 2001 (to be described in an upcoming issue of Analytical Chemistry). The one-week workshop is designed to assist faculty in learning about process analytical chemistry -- strategies, constraints, instrumentation, sampling, process control, maintenance and reliability, etc. The workshops are held at a major manufacturing sites in order to provide participants with access to the industrial site and culture. They feature lectures on process analytical chemistry, a CD-ROM and workbook of presentation materials to aid subsequent teaching of process analytical chemistry, and hands-on experience with process analytical problems and instrumentation. In return for support in attending the PAPAC workshop, faculty attendees are asked to pledge that they will use the PAPAC material on campus in the following twelve months.

Continued support after the workshop is vital. Once faculty members return to the academic environment, they typically do not have access to additional information about process analytical chemistry. Participants will be provides with a "lifeline" - a process analytical chemistry professional who agrees in advance to answer questions, visit the campus, and facilitate field trips if feasible.

Workshop Organization and Presentation

Day 1
Course Introduction: - Process Analytical is a growth area.; - What does it mean when you chose an analyzer: costs, level of commitment, expected return on investment, skill levels required for project, maintenance?; - Why would one chose an analyzer: raw material purity, product quality, safety - environmental - industrial hygiene, reactor control, processing control (distillations, purification's, scrubbing, etc)?
Introduction to Process Chemistry
Overview of Process Control

Day 2
Overview of a Real Project: Train II Toluene Diisocyanate Project
Analyzer Technology Part I: Overview of Considerations: - Importance of a good stream data sheet: composition, conditions (P, T, particulate, etc., required accuracy, precision, frequency, reliability, intended use of data (Is it redundant?); - Reliability. What does it mean? Is 95, 98, 99% good enough?; - Maintainability. The person taking care of this stuff is not a Ph.D.; - Which is more important? Up front cost? Long term cost of ownership?
Analyzer Technology Part II: Process Gas Chromatography: - The on-line chromatograph (brief overview); - Heart cuts, back flushes and all that stuff; - Examples
Analyzer Technology Part III: Oxygen
Analyzer Technology Part IV: UV, IR, NIR Spectroscopy: - Non-dispersive UV and IR instruments and applications.; - Maintenance aspects of the above. Why is this technology so widely used?; - FT instruments. Why are they becoming so popular?