The ProPAT Consortium

The ProPAT Consortium

Industrial Pharma Sensors

Company Name:

The ProPAT Consortium

Funding Source:

The research project receives funding from the European Community’s Framework programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (2014-2020).

Project Title:

ProPAT: Robust and affordable process control technologies for improving standards and optimizing industrial operations.

Profile Of Consortium:

The ProPAT consortium is made up of 16 partners from 8 European countries from the European process industry, technology providers, institutions and universities. The project will benefit the process industry in general with the immediate beneficiaries being the end user partners which include GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), MBN Nanomaterialia, Grecian Magnesite and Megara Resins.

Problem To Be Solved:

Increased globalisation and competition are drivers for process analytical technologies (PAT) that enable seamless process control, greater flexibility and cost efficiency in the process industries. ProPAT aims to introduce an integrated process control approach, embedding novel sensors for real-time monitoring of the critical control parameters of key processes in the minerals, ceramics, non-ferrous metals, and chemical (pharmaceutical) process industries. The platform will implement process modelling and control, chemometric analysis and data fusion strategies aimed at dramatically reducing costs derived from even slight deviations from the optimum.

How IMaR Delivered a Solution For Industry:

IMAR’s role in the project is to develop a suite of affordable smart sensors and integrate them into hardware (sampling chambers). • The selected sensors will be tested using product samples under typical process conditions to verify sensor accuracy and robustness. Research will be conducted on smart sensors for PAT and the various process modelling and control and data fusion approaches towards improving efficiency in industrial applications. • Research will also be carried out on powder flow characteristics, material sampling and conveyance methods for the purpose of the design, development and testing of functioning prototype sampling processes and chamber units for PAT integration into industrial process streams.

Impact for company:

The hardware prototypes will form an early identification of system proving invaluable for both strategic and exception management for the ProPAT project and will eventually be integrated within ProPAT’s global control platform. ProPAT will enable near real time closed-loop process control to operate industrial processes at their optimum, both economically and environmentally, while ensuring high levels of quality. It will also allow the uptake of the Quality by Design for continuous process improvement. The ProPAT project results will represent a major step forward towards more efficient, reliable and sustainable industrial operation.