A Critical Overview of Sensors for Monitoring Polymerizations

The available on-line and in-line sensor technologies developed for polymerization reactors from 1990 until today are discussed and critically reviewed. About 600 references are included, which evidence the growth in sensor technology in the last two decades. Sensors for operational parameters in polymer reactors (i.e. temperature, pressure, level and flow) as well as sensors for polymer property monitoring (i.e. calorimetry, chromatography and spectroscopy, among others) are included. Complementary topics such as state estimation, multivariate statistical methods, fault diagnosis techniques and optimal sensor selection and location are briefly covered.