Presentation Profile
Choosing a Spectrometer for Chemical, Petrochemical, or Polymer Analysis
Currently Scheduled: 10/12/2021 - 1:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Room: Salon H - Hotel
Main Author
Adam Hopkins - Metrohm USA
Abstract:
Vibrational spectroscopy can identify materials, measure concentrations, and determine physical parameters rapidly, reproducibly, and without sample preparation. This is because the technology identifies molecules by their unique fingerprints. This capability makes a spectrometer an invaluable tool in the laboratory or in production. However, in many cases, the wrong spectrometer is applied to a problem, resulting in lost time, wasted effort, and disillusionment with the technology.
The three most common types of vibrational spectrometers on the market are near-infrared (NIR), mid-infrared (MIR), and Raman spectrometers. Each of these technologies has unique strengths and is best-suited to addressing different problems NIR spectroscopy has a reputation for being very-powerful, but difficult to implement. MIR spectrometers are ubiquitous in the lab, where they are most-commonly FTIR instruments, but have limited sampling capabilities. Raman is a newer technology with great promise, but is often considered too costly to implement.
In this session, we explore these instruments to develop “rules of thumb” that you can use to determine what type of spectrometer you should use for different types of problems, and then demonstrate the simplicity of turnkey solutions.
