PNIPU: Technology of operational measurement of product humidity after drying

Main article: APCS - standard structure

2022:

The development of scientists at Perm Polytechnic will allow tracking the quality of chemical and pharmacological products. This was announced by the university on April 22, 2022.

Chemical, pharmaceutical, [food industry 'food]] and other industries industries use the process of drying bulk materials. The moisture content of the product is evaluated by laboratory analysis, which takes 3-5 hours. During this time, large production can produce more than a hundred tons of products. Scientists at Perm Polytechnic have improved the accuracy virtual of the analyzer, which will allow tracking the quality of processes in real time. The technology will help to quickly respond to changes in product performance and save companies money.

Researchers of Sputnik-2 LLC (Perm) also took part in the development. To solve the problem of quickly measuring the humidity of products after drying, scientists proposed PJSC Uralkali. Other fertilizer producers and chemical industry enterprises have already shown interest in technology.

As of April 2022, technologists maintain a thermal regime with some moisture reserve, which can lead to an excess of energy consumption.

One of the alternative methods of operational monitoring is the use of virtual analyzers - mathematical models that connect the values ​ ​ of product quality indicators with the current data of process parameters. Virtual analyzers optimize production modes. Thus, the company will be able to increase the volume of production and improve its quality, reduce equipment damage and reduce energy consumption, "said Dmitry Kornilitsin, one of the developers, a graduate student at the Department of Equipment and Automation of Chemical Production at Perm Polytechnic.

Scientists investigated the parameters of the technological processes of the plant and revealed two main modes of its operation. For each of them, they trained a statistical model that establishes the dependence of humidity on the values ​ ​ of the process parameters. Based on cluster analysis, the researchers developed a mode accounting algorithm. Then they conducted a computational experiment, which showed that the development significantly improved the quality of the analyzer.

Unlike analogues, our development has the function of an expert system. The scope of the tasks performed by the analyzer can be expanded, and the cost of the software solution is lower than other tools. Competitors more often offer analyzers in the form of universal box solutions that can be quickly implemented. But such products are not applicable in complex, multi-variable and non-stationary industries. In particular, as of April 2022, there are no companies that produce virtual analyzers in the field of drying substances, "explained the scientific director of the development, professor of the Department of Equipment and Automation of Chemical Production of Perm Polytechnic, doctor of technical sciences, professor Alexander Shumikhin.

The development of Perm scientists has already been introduced at one of the mining departments of PJSC Uralkali. The estimated economic effect of the development was 5-7% due to fuel economy, which is spent on drying.

Virtual analyzer models and algorithms can be implemented, in particular, in the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries. The project implementation period in this production will be from 3 to 6 months.