Optimizing the impact of developments in micro-instrumentation on process analytical technology: a consortium approach

What is process analytical technology (PAT), why is it important, and where is it going? Basically, PAT originated by applying measurement technologies to industrial processes. Some of the first examples of using measurement to monitor a process were performed within the German chemical industry more than 60 years ago [personal discussion with Dr. Jochen Rudolph, Director of Process Control of BASF, in Ludwigshafen, Germany, 30 September 1999]. The ability to monitor processes with measurement technology is not new [1], but the recognition that it will enhance productivity, quality, and environmental impact has grown increasingly over the past 30 years. PAT is now a field of measurement science that involves a number of contributions from the disciplines of chemistry, engineering, biology, data handling, and control strategies, applied in order to gain knowledge about the process being performed.