Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Investment in Fluence Analytics

Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation (MCHC) announced that Diamond Edge Ventures, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of MCHC, has invested in Fluence Analytics Inc. (Head office: New Orleans, Louisiana). Fluence Analytics is a startup spun-off from Tulane University in 2013 that provides real-time analytics solutions called “ACOMP” (Automatic Continuous Online Monitoring of Polymerization), an online monitoring system for chemical reactions such as polymer synthesis.

In general, the kinetics of substances in the polymer synthesis reaction are determined by drawing samples from the reactor at fixed intervals, measuring them with an analytical instrument, and analyzing the data using an analysis software, etc. However, the limited timing of sampling does not necessarily mean that important instantaneous data to indicate changes in the kinetics are available. In addition, for reasons such as the large number of manual operations, the availability of measurement values is often one step behind, while the synthesis reaction of polymers proceeds.

Fluence Analytics’ ACOMP can extract samples directly from the reactor enabling continuous real-time monitoring of the physical properties of polymers in the reaction process. Real-time data obtained with ACOMP is combined with operation conditions data obtained from other sensors and then analyzed and predicted to optimize reaction systems, which make it possible to improve operational excellence and product quality. In R&D, it is expected that the use of detailed polymeric data will lead to greater efficiency, such as reducing the number of experiments, and to the development of new materials.

ACOMP already has good track records in monitoring of a large number of polymers, including acrylamide and methacrylate. MCHC will advance development for a wider range of polymer applications with Fluence Analytics, with the aim of promoting IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) in the chemical industry.