Optical Evaluation System for a Seaweed-Water Mixture in a Seaweed Processing Plant

An in-process optical measurement system has been proposed for a seaweed-water mixture in a seaweed processing plant with the aim of quality evaluation of final products. The system or method is based on the assumption that the optical transmissions of the mixture at particular wavelengths could be related to seaweed-product quality. In order to ascertain the above expectation, we have made measurements in a plant and done some analysis, including principal component analysis, on the measurement data. The results imply that the optical transmission data of the mixture can be used to estimate the quality of the final seaweed products. The information obtained could also be useful in making a feedback control of the process for producing better products.