Increasingly precise process control strategies, often linked to computer control, have accelerated the use of sophisticated on-line chemical composition analyzers in plant applications. Instruments such as gas and liquid chromatographs, ion chromatographs, laser optic instruments, atomic absorption instruments and specific ion analyzers, which were rarities in laboratories ten years ago, are now found routinely in plant settings.
While continuing miniaturization and “rugged-ization” of the electronics are making the instrumentation circuitry more tolerant of the plant environment, the level of contamination in plant samples compared to laboratory samples continues to plague the process. This white paper reviews the factors in plant operation that may affect the deliverability of acceptable samples and provides guidelines for addressing these factors.
