Mass spectrometry next for computerdirected quality-control analysis This spring a mass spectrometer will join 40 gas chromatographs that are now part of a computer analysis system in the quality control laboratory at Monsanto's plant at Chocolate Bayou, Tex. Put into operation in December, the system is now processing some 1000 samples a week. The samples come from the plant's various streams-ethylene, propylene, benzene, naphthalene, phenol, alkylbenzene, acrylonitrile, and butadiene. The laboratory system (developed jointly by Monsanto and IBM) centers on a leased IBM 1800 computer. Analytical data are stored on a disk memory with a capacity of more than 500,000 words. A second disk will be added for the mass spectrometer. Laboratory productivity has gone up and results are better, Monsanto says. The biggest benefit with the gas chromatograph system has been in precision. What, for example, might have been 88.5 to 91.5% is now 90 ± 0 . 1 % . This, Monsanto says, has enabled manufacturing personnel to further optimize processes. A further benefit is speed. Manual interpretation of a chart with 100 chromatographic signals takes two and a half hours. The computer takes three and a half minutes.
In operation, the analyst uses a tabletop keyboard for entering into the computer the nature of the sample, the analytical technique required, and the instrument being used. He then injects the sample into the chromatograph and pushes a start button. The computer does the rest. It specifies attenuation and other adjustments to the chromatograph and calculates amounts of components. The system carries out a complete method of analysis, including external standards, internal standards, normalization, and grouping. It is selfdocumenting and capable of keeping its own files. Of the 40 chromatographs tied into the system, the computer can handle any 20 simultaneously. Scan speed is 5 points per second, and range is 0.3 microvolt to 5 volts. The memory contains calculation routines, factors, and the like for 120 chromatographic methods. The system is now being programed to handle the mass spectrometer. It will be able to handle three inputs with a scan rate of 80 points per second per input. Range will be 1.0 millivolt to 10 volts. Resolution will be 0.1 mass number. The disk memory will hold 10 calculation methods.
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Watson interference Obieclives KEYBOARD. Computer analysis of laboratory samples at Monsanto's Chocolate Bayou plant begins with a technician using this tabletop keyboard to describe the sample and tell the computer what technique to follow. The IBM 1800 computer next to the control lab is programed to run the sample through one of 40 gas chromatographs and interpret its data. The setup handles some 1000 samples a week
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