Focus
Center for Process Analytical Chemistry On Nov. 1, 1983, the University of Washington received a $52,000 planning grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a proposed Center for Process Analytical Chemistry (CPAC). Process analytical chemistry is the use of analytical procedures and instrumentation as an integral part of an automated chemical process. According to CPAC project director Deborah L. Illman, "Continuous analysis is desirable whenever temperature, pressure, chemical composition, product yield, waste product profiles, and quality control are involved." CPAC plans to conduct basic research on process optimization and control through the application of advanced sensors and state-of-the-art monitoring techniques, and it will serve as a training ground and information clearinghouse on process analytical chemistry. The center will also stress the integration of sophisticated chemometrics techniques, such as multivariate data analysis, into production monitoring technology. Chemometrics is a field of chemistry involving the use of efficient mathematical methods and optimized experimental design to obtain the greatest possible amount of information on material systems (see Anal. Chem. 1982, 54, 1379-80 A). The University of Washington has been a center of expertise in chemometrics for some time. CPAC's prospectus suggests that to compete successfully in world markets the U.S. chemical process industries should pay closer attention to productivity and quality control: "The demand for continuous monitoring and detailed accounting of all process components, including raw materials,. . . products, and effluents will certainly intensify in the future. Moreover, better optimization and control of processes will require more sophisticated on-line sensors that rapidly provide direct chemical information on prod-
ucts and impurities. New powerful algorithms for interpreting this information and utilizing it for process control need to be developed. This is the essence of process analytical chemistry." CPAC will be an interdisciplinary effort, involving faculty members from the departments of chemistry, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, and laboratory medicine. CPAC principal investigators are Bruce R. Kowalski and James B. Callis, both of whom are professors of chemistry at the University of Washington. Visiting scholars will also augment the center's staff from time to time, including Jaromir Ruzicka of the Technical University of Denmark, who will be in residence in the spring quarter of 1984. The NSF planning grant will enable Kowalski and Callis to study possible alternatives for both structure and content of the research to be pursued and to evaluate industry's interest in the proposed center. Industrial sponsors will be asked to contribute $30,000 per year to participate in and benefit from the center's research,
with a projected starting date of July 1,1984. If sufficient industry support is generated and further NSF funding is obtained, CPAC will become one of a number of NSF-initiated universityindustry cooperative research centers, which include the Center for Applied Polymer Research at Case Western Reserve, the Center for Interactive Computer Graphics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and the Ceramics Cooperative Research Center at Rutgers University. NSF typically provides first a planning grant, such as that recently approved for CPAC, and then a five-year continuing grant to help such centers get on their feet. At the end of five years, the centers are expected to become self-sustaining. For further information on CPAC, write to the Center for Process Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry (BG-10), University of Washington, Seattle, Wash. 98195, or call the center at 206-543-1655.
CPAC principal investigators Bruce R. Kowalski (left) and James B. Callis
36 A · ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 56, NO. 1, JANUARY 1984
