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New measuring technologies make the course of chemical reactions visible

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The temperature provides Dr. Martin Gerlach with important information about how the reaction is proceeding.

New measuring techniques in the chemical industry can help to make the use of raw materials and energy more efficient and thus lower production costs while improving quality and reducing the burden on the environment. One particular challenge is simultaneously measuring the temperature at different areas of the steel reaction apparatus. Researchers at Bayer Technology Services have developed a new process for this task that has proven successful in pilot plants.

New use for a mass produced article

Such measurements used to be difficult because they required numerous cables and access to various areas of the plant. The sensitive course of chemical synthesis even in large vessels can be disturbed by such thick cable strands and the many resulting intrusions into the process. Thanks to slightly modified glass fibers – a mass article from the communication technology sector – individual wiring is no longer necessary. The following article relates how a teapot-sized measuring cell for synthesis analysis works and why its developers were rewarded with the Otto Bayer Medal in the spring of 2006.