Monitoring of size and material composition is essential for all separation unit processes with a clear preference for in-line solutions. In this regard approaches allowing control of both size and material composition are advantageous.

This paper introduces MRS (multireflectance spectroscopy) as a promising new technique to serve this goal. It is based on use of backscattering and spectral reflectance signals over a very broad wavelength range (UV-VIS-NIR). The signals cover information on scattering and absorbing particulate and dissolved compounds and are also influenced by the size distribution.

The paper presents the basic underlying principle and its validation.

To highlight the potential of the method different applications related to the dairy industry and biotechnology are presented.

Acknowledgement – We thank Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie for financial support of the project EP131445