ELECTRICAL SENSING OF DISPERSION BEHAVIOR

Recent developments in the principle of using in situ electrical sensi ng methods to interrogate the behaviour of concentrated dispersions an d suspensions are described. These methods include the use of electric al resistance and/or capacitance, or inductance, employing different e xcitation protocols involving the generation and interpretation of sig nals at a single frequency or via spectroscopic means. Examples of the application of some of these techniques are illustrated for batch sed imentation processes, particle size analysis in dilute dispersions, de tection of multiple-phase interfaces in vessels and flow imaging in pi pes and reactors using resistance tomography.