New Portable FTIR Enables Field Site Analysis of Rock & Soil Samples

A2 Technologies now offers a family of portable handheld FTIR systems that are optimized for geoscience applications including the compositional analysis of rocks, minerals and soils. The A2's Exoscan and FlexScan FTIR systems are battery powered, hand-held FTIR spectrometers that are proven for field applications.

For years, use of FTIR spectroscopy has been applied to this area of study but this consisted of bringing samples back to a laboratory for analysis, which is time consuming and inefficient. With these new portable FTIR systems, samples no longer need be transported back to the lab. Using an Exoscan or FlexScan portable FTIR system critical information about a field site can be obtained in real-time allowing the investigator to focus on areas of the site of greatest importance, concurrently reducing the number of less important samples that are measured. Furthermore, this technology can identify minerals and soil components as well as quantify molecular compounds including oil contamination or degree of hydration in soil.