ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Online monitoring of polysaccharide solution concentration by electromagnetic field, electrical conductivity and spectrophotometry measurements

Jussi Silvonen, Niko Järvelä, Markus Koppanen, Matti Järveläinen, Arto Ojuva, and Erkki Levänen

Materials Science and Environmental Engineering, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

E-mail: jussi.silvonen@tuni.fi

Received: 8 December 2020  Accepted: 9 June 2021

Abstract:

Online control of industrial processes by lean principle increases productivity and yields higher product quality. Polysaccharides are dissolved in liquids, such as water, in many industrial products, like paints, cosmetics and culinary products. In these products, it is important to control viscosity or create thixotropy and yield stress for product functionality. Electromagnetic field and electrical conductivity techniques were applied to a meter polysaccharide dissolution process online up to a 0.5 wt% concentration, and the resultant solution was also further tested by UV–Vis spectrophotometry. The electromagnetic field technique measures changes in the local electrical permittivity of the liquid and the interest in this research were to find out whether the changes correlate to the concentration changes during the dissolution of polymer polysaccharide. The results that were obtained showed good consistency, suggesting the feasibility of the electromagnetic field technique in online monitoring of a polysaccharide suspension concentration. Moreover, this technique gives the advantage of instant monitoring of a polysaccharide dissolution for improved process control.

Graphic abstract

Keywords: Dissolution; Electrical conductivity; Electromagnetic field; Online monitoring; Polysaccharide

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-021-01733-5

Chemical Papers 75 (11) 5885–5894 (2021)