3rd year Analytical Chemistry CHE32M2 – Statistical Process Control

Chemometrics on Monday 22 October 2018

Second Semester of 2018

Faculty of Natural Sciences [FNSs]

Undergrad power-point on Chemometrics

Make sure you know terms and basic definitions of Chemometrics (quality control, quality
assurance, mean, mode, etc) in the undergrad power-point that I emailed to you in your
second year.

This CHE32M2 3rd year Analytical Chemistry Tutorial covers the following topics:

Chemometrics

 Shewhart charts
 Moving Average charts
 CUSUM charts

Question 2 [20 marks] – Moving Average chart

(a) Use the data in Table 2 (35 points in all) to plot a moving average chart (n = 5). The target
value has been established to be 17 and the standard deviation is 1.5.

[Table of values: 4 marks][The actual chart: 6 marks]

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 Table 2 for Question 2

Point Datum Point Datum

1 16 19 20
2 16 20 22
3 18 21 19
4 14 22 19
5 16 23 21
6 15 24 22
7 18 25 20
8 17 26 21
9 18 27 20
10 18 28 19
11 16 29 22
12 18 30 21
13 15 31 21
14 16 32 21
15 17 33 22
16 21 34 21
17 17 35 21
18 21

(b) Calculate the upper and lower warning limits and show them in your chart in (a). Take five
to be the number of replicates. [3 marks]

(c) Calculate the upper and lower action limits and show them in your chart in (a). Take five to
be the number of replicates. [3 marks]

(d) Make concise comments on your moving average chart in (a). Your answer should make
it clear if the analyst is intervening or not. [4 marks]

Question 3 [10 marks]

(a) In a certain production process, a South African company produces titanium buttons. A
single titanium button was drawn from the process every 15 minutes, and measurements of
hardness (in DPN units) were made on each button. The following results were obtained:

Table for Question 3

Sample Hardness
Number (DPN)

1 126.1
2 126.8
3 126.6
4 125.8
5 124.7
6 130.0
7 126.9
8 126.2
9 127.8
10 127.1
11 124.1
12 126.4
13 126.3
14 123.5
15 128.1
16 132.3
17 127.2
18 127.4
19 126.7
20 131.2

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(b) Calculate mean hardness of the titanium buttons. [1 mark]

(c) Calculate the standard deviation of the above data. [1 mark]

(d) Use the above data to construct a Shewhart chart. Given that in this case the number of
replicates is four, indicate the positions of warning and action lines on your chart.

[Graph: 6 marks]

(e) Does the process appear to be in control? Explain your answer. [2 marks]

Question 4 [10 marks] – CUSUM Chart

(a) Use the data in Question 3 (a) to construct a CUSUM chart on a separate graph paper.

[Table of values = 3 marks][The actual Graph = 5 marks]

(b) Briefly comment on the CUSUM chart you have just plotted in (a). [2 marks]

Statistical terms

Please refer to Miller and Miller (2000). Statics and Chemometrics for Analytical Chemistry,
4th edition or 5th edition.

We are done with Chemometrics.

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Question 7 [10 marks]

Begin this question on a NEW page.

(a) Thobela determined the concentrations of Zn2+ in water from Galitos Dam. The
determination was repeated seven times (Table 7.1).

Table 7.1: Zn concentrations in water from Galitos Dam

The true value of the Zn2+ concentration is 130.9 µg L−1. Comment on Thobela’s results in
terms of accuracy and precision. [3 marks]

(i) Determine if any of the Zn2+ concentrations in Table 7.1 can be viewed as an outlier at 95%
confidence level. [5 marks]

(ii) On the basis of your answer in c(i), calculate Thobela’s average Zn2+ concentration.

[2 marks]

Statistical Table...

Shewhart chart jargon

n is the number of replicates! (n=2 for duplicates, n=3 for triplicates, n=4 for quadruplicates,
n=5 for quintuplicates, n=6 for sextuplicates n=7 for septuplicates, n=8 for octuplicates, n=9
for nonuplicate and n=10 for decuplicates).

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