Autonomous Processes in Particle Technology

Battery materials, pharmaceuticals, solar cells, coffee powder, 3D printed components, etc., all these products have in common that they are predominantly made of particles. Ensuring high product quality with optimal raw material and energy utilization is only possible with extensive and many years of experience in the operation of such processes. This unsatisfactory situation is due to the complexity of particulate products, which still hinders extensive automation and autonomous process control. The challenge is to couple the respective basic operations with characterization devices, process dynamics and modern control algorithms to form a closed loop for process control. As a result, some day it should be possible to set the desired property profiles of particulate products with the most energy- and raw material-efficient operation possible with a “push of a button”.