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Industrial application parallels and follows the development of new analytical instrumentation. By 1969, the terminology had changed from "Specific Ion Electrodes" to "Ion-Selective Electrodes" (ISE's) and development efforts were underway to adapt these new laboratory tools for solving industrial process analytical problems and furnishing process control information.
Industrial analytical instruments differ from laboratory instruments in that operation must be continuous, be without operator attention and that extreme sampling and environment conditions may be encountered. Applications of ISE's to process analysis drew heavily on existing hardware and concepts for process pH measurement. Existing flow-through chambers, reference electrodes, ultrasonic and mechanical cleaners for dirty process solutions, differential cells, process titrators, reagent addition systems, differential cells and gas analyzers have been described and integrated with computers, monitors and process control systems. The problems of temperature compensation and computer corrections for interferences and impurities have been addressed. New developments such as introduction of ion selective field effect transistors (ISFET's) and Flow Injection Analysis (FIA)are suggested as having application in process measurements.
Some of the "behind the scenes" management plans and personalities that brought this field into existence are discussed.
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