Monitoring and Visualization of Crystallization Processes Using Electrical Resistance Tomography: CaCO3 and Sucrose Crystallization Case Studies

Abstract

In the current research work, electrical resistance tomography (ERT) was employed for crystallization process monitoring and visualization. A first-of-its-kind MATLAB-based interactive GUI application “ERT-Vis” is presented. Two case studies involving varied crystallization methods were undertaken. The experiments involving calcium carbonate reactive (precipitative) crystallization for the high conductivity solution-solute media and the cooling crystallization for sucrose crystallization representing the lower conductivity solution-solute combination were designed and performed. The software successfully provided key insights regarding the process progress in both crystallization systems. It could detect and separate the crystal agglomerations in the low as well as high conductivity solutions using visual analytics tools provided. The performance and utility of the software were studied using a software evaluation case study involving domain experts. Participant feedback indicated that ERT-Vis software helps in reconstructing images instantaneously, interactively visualizing, and evaluating the output of the crystallization process monitoring data.

Playing with Data: An Augmented Reality Approach to Interact with Visualizations of Industrial Process Tomography

“…Industrial process tomography (IPT) (Figure 1.a) is a dedicated and non-invasive imaging technique which is pervasively used in manufacturing scenarios for process monitoring or integrated controlIsmail et al [2005], Tapp et al [2003], Nolet [2012], Primrose [2015], Plaskowski et al [1995], Rao et al [2022], Zhang et al [2020a], Zhang and Fjeld [2020]. IPT serves as an effective mechanism to extract complex data which is visualized in various representations and interpret it for domain users to comprehend the essence of the industrial processes Hampel et al [2022], Beck et al [2012], Yao and Takei [2017], Zhang et al [2020bZhang et al [ , 2021a.…”