Providing tools for predictive maintenance and performance monitoring is the main objective of the projects in this application area. The considered issues include fouling monitoring in heat exchangers and gas turbines, leak detection in lubrication circuits, sensor and actuator monitoring in an activated sludge process and weld quality estimation in continuous strip lines. Monitoring and optimization of production processes involving a separation step through Simulated Moving Bed (SMB) chromatography is an on-going research direction.