Scale-Up

Industrial Tomography Systems Scale Up Applications

All significant chemical processes are scaled up from lab to production volumes.

Processes carried out in lab conditions are by their nature done in small vessels. In such conditions, the transport of reactants is extremely fast which means that many reactions go to completion without the development of significant side reactions. In addition, one particular crystal morphology may be developed at small scale, whereas other polymorphs may be produced at larger scales.

Reactions dependent on good mixing are particularly prone to change their behaviour as volumes change.

For these reasons, process scale-up can lead to unpredictable results, significant reductions in yield and the production of by-products.

Process tomography is a volume based measurement technique so extremely well suited to investigating reaction conditions. In addition, tomography sensors can be designed for vessels from less than 1cm diameter to over 4 metres (for resistance tomography systems).

Data can be used on both a qualitative and quantitative basis with numerical parameters exported to Excell, MatLab or other analysis packages.

As well as the transition from small to large scale reaction, process engineers have used ITS technology as a tool to select optimal reactor conditions. For example, dish, conical or flat-bottomed reactor; mixing configuration, orientation and number of impellers.

Furthermore, process tomography sensors can usually be used under real process conditions, sensors can be made from chemically resistant materials (Hastelloy or tantalum electrodes; ceramic and advanced plastic sensor bodies) and deployed in hazardous conditions, such as ATEX zone zero environments.

Case Study

Using Process Tomography to Scale-up Crystallisation

Electrical resistance tomography (ERT) is able to monitor conductivity at in excess of 200 points in a vessel at rates of 20-40 times per second.

Our Products

Research & Education Package

A standard package for teaching and general laboratory work and tailored solutions for more complex experimental conditions...

EIT with the ITS v5r

v5r (Electrical Resistance Tomog...

The v5r is the newest instrument from ITS which combines a wide operating envelope and high speed operation....

ITS p2+ for electrical resistance tomography

P2+ (Electrical Resistance Tomog...

The p2+ is the primary electrical resistance tomography instrument used throughout the world for more than 12 years...

ERT Vessel Sensors

Electrical resistance tomography sensors for mixing and reaction monitoring applications...

ERT Probe Sensors from ITS

ERT Probe Sensors

ERT probes are particularly suited to retrofitting in existing vessels and reactors to study interfaces and overall mixing performance...

ERT Pipe Sensors

Electrical resistance tomography sensors for flow based applications...

ECT Pipe Sensors

ECT pipeline section with integral electrode sensor array for characterisation of flowing materials such as air, oil and powders...

Tomography Data Analysis Software

Toolsuite

The Tomography Toolsuite is the standard interface for ITS instrumentation allowing users to review ECT and ERT data sets...

Advanced Algorithms from ITS

Advanced Algorithms

Off-line advanced algorithms can provide more accurate tomograms using iterative reconstruction methods...