Can anyone provide information on the continuous on-line refractive Index measurement? Various technologies? Maintenance requirements and in-plant reliability? Equipment/ Vendors?
I have used K-Patents inline refractometers for measuring percent concentration of aqueous solubles in water. It shines a beam of light and reads the refraction. The response is rapid and can be filtered if needed.
It requires one to establish and set up intial calibration curves, but once those are established, it just runs. We had one line with a problem due to an emulsified oil additive in the 0.04% range, where the oil would coat the refractometer lens. That was rapidly solved by installation with a purge adapter from K-patents.
The ability to control the blending concentration to a fraction of percent continuously saved a huge amount, which translated to a 20 day payback on the purchase price, 82 day payback for the entire project. We don't do concentration by grab sample any more.
