Overview and Comparison of Portable Spectroscopy Techniques: FTIR, NIR and Raman

Walk through the majority of R&D departments and quality laboratories and you will see FTIR, near-infrared (NIR) and Raman spectrometers aplenty. These now ubiquitous instruments are used to support the manufacture and development of a vast range of products of all shapes and sizes and material types from pharmaceuticals to pasta, paint, petroleum and polymer films. A single spectrometer can be used to verify the identity of bulk materials, check for contamination, ensure intermediates are processing as expected, and confirm final product to be within specification. Developments in sampling accessories and advancements in software (simplified user interfaces, library searching capabilities as well as processing algorithms) have greatly increased ease of use; these instruments are now well suited to the non-specialist user. However, these systems, in the main, are still kept in the laboratory and samples are brought to the instrument for often quite simple analysis.