Mass Spectrometer is an analytical tool used for measuring the molecular mass of a sample. It provides fast, precise analysis for improved process control and features a vault-tolerant design that maximizes uptime. A variety of sample inlets systems are available depending upon the process being monitored with multi-port inlets available, where an atmospheric pressure process requires more than one sample port. The process mass spectrometer is a fast, highly stable scanning magnetic sector that generates a high-energy ion beam from the sample gas. This ion beam is separated into its constituent molecular fragments by the electromagnet and the auto-zeroing amplifier measures the signal intensity. A series of distributed microcontrollers provide complete automatic control of the process without requiring any manual interventions.

Structural information can be generated using process mass spectrometers usually those with multiple analyzers. This is achieved by fragmenting the sample inside the instrument and analyzing the products generated.

Process Mass Spectrometers are used in various industries for both routine and research purposes. The following list is a brief summary of the major process mass spectrometric applications.

1. Biotechnology- the analysis of proteins, peptides
2. Pharmaceutical-drug discovery, combinatorial chemistry, drug metabolism
3. Clinical-neonatal screening, hemoglobin analysis, drug testing
4. Environmental-PAHs, PCBs, water quality, food contamination
5. Geological-oil composition

Today, producing a good quality product error free without the help of process mass spectrometer is almost impossible. The use of real time process analysis and control has been useful in establishing and maintaining optimum operating parameters so that the potential for human error can be reduced. Real-time data allows the process operators to make decision to correct immediately a problem during a process so that the product quality can be preserved.