A new process analytical technology soft sensor based on electrical tomography for real-time monitoring of multiphase systems

Background: Electrical tomography is widely recognized for its high time resolution and low cost. However, the implementation of electrical tomographic solutions has been hindered by the high computational overhead associated, which causes delays in the analysis, and numerical instability, that results in unclear reconstructed images. Therefore, it has been mostly applied offline, for qualitative tasks and with some delay. Applications requiring fast response times and quantification have been hindered or ruled out. Results: In this article, we propose a new process analytical technology soft sensor that maps directly electrical tomography signals to the relevant parameter to be monitored. The data acquisition and estimation steps occur almost instantaneously, and the final accuracy is very good (R2 = 0,994). Significance and novelty: The proposed methodology opens up good prospects for real-time quantitative applications. It was successfully tested on a pilot piping installation where the target property is the interface height between two immiscible fluids.