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Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy was applied for temperature dependent monitoring of melting and crystallization of milk fat within homogenized fresh milk. As an in-line process analytical technique, PDW spectroscopy quantifies continuously the optical properties of turbid material, providing an insight into its structural processes. Here, the measured absorption coefficients reflect temperature as well as fat content of milk and the reduced scattering coefficients probe physical changes of the light scattering fat droplets and casein micelles. Thermal processing reveals breakpoints within the temperature trend of the reduced scattering coefficient of fat containing milk. Found at 16 degrees C and 24 degrees C while cooling and heating, respectively, they are associated to the phase transitions of milk fat. Continuous isothermal measurement of the optical coefficients showed that the crystallization process requires several hours. The strongly changing reduced scattering coefficient implies that the thermal history of milk will have a major impact on any method based on light scattering as quantitative analytical technique.
Lactose is of great industrial importance and its production includes the cooling crystallization from highly concentrated solutions. Monitoring the crystallization process is essential to ensure reproducible product quality. Photon density wave (PDW) spectroscopy enables in-line monitoring of highly concentrated processes in liquid dispersions. It was applied to the determination of the solubility and nucleation points of lactose monohydrate in water, sizing of lactose crystals, and to dissolution as well as crystallization monitoring. Other process analytical technologies (focused-beam reflectance measurement, particle vision and measurement) were used as reference, and the comparison indicates that PDW spectroscopy is very robust against probe fouling and is, thus, a useful tool for monitoring crystallization processes in concentrated suspensions.
A simple, convenient, and inexpensive method to fabricate optical fiber based biosensors which utilize periodic hole arrays in gold films for signal transduction is reported. The process of hole array formation mainly relies on self-assembly of hydrogel microgels in combination with chemical gold film deposition and subsequent transfer of the perforated film onto an optical fiber tip. In the fabrication process solely chemical wet lab techniques are used, avoiding cost-intensive instrumentation or clean room facilities. The presented method for preparing fiber optic plasmonic sensors provides high throughput and is perfectly suited for commercialization using batch processing. The transfer of the perforated gold film onto an optical fiber tip does not affect the sensitivity of the biosensor ((420 +/- 83) nm/refractive index unit (RIU)), which is comparable to sensitivities of sensor platforms based on periodic hole arrays in gold films prepared by significantly more complex methods. Furthermore, real-time and in-line immunoassay studies with a specially designed 3D printed flow cell are presented exploiting the presented optical fiber based biosensors.
The formation process of zeolite A (Linde Type A) was monitored inline at 1.5 L scale by Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy as novel process analytical technology for highly turbid liquid suspensions. As a result, the reduced scattering coefficient, being a measure for particle number, size, and morphology, provides distinct process information, including the formation of amorphous particles and their transfer into crystalline zeolite structures. The onset and end of the crystallization process can be detected inline and in real-time. Analyses by powder X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy, based on a sampling approach, support the interpretation of the results obtained by PDW spectroscopy. In addition, the influence of the molar water content was investigated, indicating a linear increase of the time needed to reach the end of the zeolite A crystallization with increasing molar water content. Further experiments indicate a strong influence of the silica source on the course of the crystallization. The applicability of PDW spectroscopy under even more demanding chemical and physical conditions was investigated by monitoring the synthesis of zeolite L (Linde Type L).
Most investigations on phase inversion (PI) of resins upon addition of water have been carried out by dynamic light scattering (DLS), torque, and viscosity measurements. The main problem, however, is analytic discontinuity due to sample removal and a changing matrix due to dilution during the preparation of the aqueous resin dispersions. This work presents Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy as a tool for the inline characterization of the acetone process for an acrylic copolymer with high acrylic acid (AA) content. PDW spectroscopy revealed different trends for optical properties compared to torque during water feed. Also the absence of PI due to dissolution of copolymer in the solvent/water mixture is observed by PDW spectroscopy. PI for the investigated copolymer did not occour during water feed but during removal of solvent. Different feeding rates of water gave similar trends while a change in temperature and degree of AA neutralization led to changes in optical properties and torque. Thermal processing showed that the optical properties of mixtures prior and after removal of solvent were completely different caused by changes of solubility.
Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy is presented as a fascinating technology for the independent determination of scattering (mu(s)’ and absorption (ita) properties of highly turbid liquid dispersions. The theory is reviewed introducing new expressions for the PDW coefficients k(I) and k(Phi). Furthermore, two models for dependent scattering, namely the hard sphere model in the Percus-Yevick Approximation (HSPYA) and the Yukawa model in the Mean Spherical Approximation (YMSA), are experimentally examined. On the basis of the HSPYA particle sizing is feasible in dispersions of high ionic strength. It is furthermore shown that in dialyzed dispersions or in technical copolymers with high particle charge only the YMSA allows for correct dilution-free particle sizing. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The coil-to-globule transition of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) microgel particles suspended in water has been investigated in situ as a function of heating and cooling rate with four optical process analytical technologies (PAT), sensitive to structural changes of the polymer. Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy, Focused Beam Reflectance Measurements (FBRM), turbidity measurements, and Particle Vision Microscope (PVM) measurements are found to be powerful tools for the monitoring of the temperature-dependent transition of such thermo-responsive polymers. These in-line technologies allow for monitoring of either the reduced scattering coefficient and the absorption coefficient, the chord length distribution, the reflected intensities, or the relative backscatter index via in-process imaging, respectively. Varying heating and cooling rates result in rate-dependent lower critical solution temperatures (LCST), with different impact of cooling and heating. Particularly, the data obtained by PDW spectroscopy can be used to estimate the thermodynamic transition temperature of PNIPAM for infinitesimal heating or cooling rates. In addition, an inverse hysteresis and a reversible building of micrometer-sized agglomerates are observed for the PNIPAM transition process.
The high solids semicontinuous emulsion polymerization of polyvinyl acetate using poly (vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) as protective colloid is investigated by optical spectroscopy. The suitability of Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy as inline Process Analytical Technology (PAT) for emulsion polymerization processes at high solid contents (>40% (w/w)) is studied and evaluated. Inline data on absorption and scattering in the dispersion is obtained in real-time. The radical polymerization of vinyl acetate to polyvinyl acetate using ascorbic acid and sodium persulfate as redox initiator system and poly (vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) as protective colloid is investigated. Starved-feed radical emulsion polymerization yielded particle sizes in the nanometer size regime. PDW spectroscopy is used to monitor the progress of polymerization by studying the absorption and scattering properties during the synthesis of dispersions with increasing monomer amount and correspondingly decreasing feed rate of protective colloid. Results are compared to particle sizes determined with offline dynamic light scattering (DLS) and static light scattering (SLS) during the synthesis.
Objective Due to multiple light scattering that occurs inside and between cells, quantitative optical spectroscopy in turbid biological suspensions is still a major challenge. This includes also optical inline determination of biomass in bioprocessing. Photon Density Wave (PDW) spectroscopy, a technique based on multiple light scattering, enables the independent and absolute determination of optical key parameters of concentrated cell suspensions, which allow to determine biomass during cultivation. Results A unique reactor type, called "mesh ultra-thin layer photobioreactor" was used to create a highly concentrated algal suspension. PDW spectroscopy measurements were carried out continuously in the reactor without any need of sampling or sample preparation, over 3 weeks, and with 10-min time resolution. Conventional dry matter content and coulter counter measurements have been employed as established offline reference analysis. The PBR allowed peak cell dry weight (CDW) of 33.4 g L-1. It is shown that the reduced scattering coefficient determined by PDW spectroscopy is strongly correlated with the biomass concentration in suspension and is thus suitable for process understanding. The reactor in combination with the fiber-optical measurement approach will lead to a better process management.