An electronic tongue as a tool for wet-end monitoring

An electronic tongue based on voltammetry and multivariate signal analysis has been evaluated as a tool for characterisation of the chemistry of the wet-end of a paper machine. Measurements were performed on head-box furnish samples from a tissue machine. PLS models, based on electronic tongue data, were made of five reference parameters - pH, conductivity, cationic demand, zeta potential and turbidity. The correlation coefficients for predicted values were for all parameters higher than 0.88. Highly correlated reference parameters might be part of the explanation for the high correlation factors. Still the results, being based on data without e.g. drift compensation, indicate that the electronic tongue has very promising features as a tool for wet-end control. Flexibility, fast response and wide sensitivity spectra make the electronic tongue suitable for a variety of applications.