Building on its 50 years of industry experience, FEI platforms and solutions address the needs of the petrochemical industry with a full suite of solutions that include hardware, software, application expertise and global support. FEI's flexible, full-range of components can be integrated on platforms that provide you with the technical advantage you need to reduce sample preparation time, improve analytical accuracy, and make needed fixes in timely ways that keep throughput at peak levels.
Accelerated product design cycles in the Chemical/Petrochemical R&D Laboratory benefit from high resolution characterization and spectroscopy solutions providing morphology and compositional information at the sub-micron to Angstrom scale. Understanding materials at the sub-micron to Angstrom scale brings a rational component to high throughput formulation and testing cycles receiving increasing appreciation from Chemical Engineers.
Unlike some other industries, samples typically encountered in the Chemical/Petrochemical R&D Laboratory present specific challenges to charged particle beam characterization and analysis techniques such as SEM, FIB or TEM. Due to the width of it's technology and product portfolio, FEI offers a number of very specific and unique solutions to some of the most pressing issues in the Chemical/Petrochemical R&D laboratory. Furthermore, FEI's global sales and service network supports the expanding Chemical/Petrochemical R&D in areas such as India and China.
Particle Analysis
Micro- and nano-analysis using high-resolution imaging and charged particle beam technologies forms the basis of FEI's scanning and transmission electron microscopes (SEM and TEM), focused ion beam (FIB) technologies, and automation applications address the petrochemical industry's growing need for greater particle inspection, analysis, and characterization capabilities.
FEI platforms effectively address the issues that typically create analytical obstacles. The results are greater data accuracy, superior imaging, easier sample preparation, and better analysis. By integrating the components required to address your laboratory's specific needs, FEI platforms can eliminate common examination obstacles, such as those posed by the alteration of non-conductive materials when contacting the higher charge of a particle beam, cross-sectioning of hard-soft interfaces with significant differences in material properties, clustering caused by drying wet samples, and low throughput when creating ultra-thin samples, especially with multi-layered materials.
Chemical/Petrochemical Platforms
FEI engineers its superior and partly unique technologies into platforms and systems designed specifically for the needs of the petrochemical industry.
FEI's Environmental SEM or ESEM platform forms the basis of a range of inspection and high resolution analytical SEMs and SEM/FIB DualBeams that excel in imaging and analysis of non-conductive specimen without the need for sample preparation. Modification and customization of the ESEM technology in the 90's has resulted in technology superior to date in the fields of low vacuum SEM, gaseous secondary electron detection and EDS in low vacuum.
A comprehensive range of heating stages, cooling stages and gas injectors enable in-situ dynamic experimentation studies on both our Environmental SEM and Environmental TEM products. Typical use-cases in the field of catalysis are correlative imaging and residual gas analysis studies or the high resolution characterization of in-situ growth of carbon whiskers applied to catalysis.
Combined with the revolutionary new WET-STEM detector, our ESEM platforms now also deliver a solution to imaging particles in dispersion. This is a first and breakthrough solution for high resolution characterization of nanoparticles in their natural wet habitat.
Recent advances on our high resolution FE-SEM platform in the field of in-lens backscattered electron imaging and STEM analysis have added tremendous value to the understanding of the Nanostructure of NanoComposite materials such as Nano-clay or CNT reinforced polymer blends.
FEI's DualBeam SEM/FIB platforms have revolutionized specific aspects of sample preparation such as cross-sectioning hard-soft interfaces without applying mechanical force that can lead to disruption of the hard-soft interface such as delamination. Additionally, even from the most challenging samples thin lamellae can be prepared within typically 30 minutes for advanced TEM analysis.
Our DualBeam and TEM Tomography platforms provide solutions for true 3D characterization at the sub-micron to Angstrom scale. 3D imaging becomes increasingly important due to the shift from bulk material characterization to Nano-device characterization. Examples are the 3-dimensional distribution of catalyst particles on zeolite substrates, or 3-dimensional characterization of membrane porosity.
Using corrected optics, the FEI Titan transmission electron microscope (TEM) provides ultimate stability and can go to sub-Angstrom imaging resolution with a transmitted electron beam also at solid-solid or solid-gas interfaces, which is not possible with conventional TEM due to delocalization effects caused by aberrations in the optical system. Atomic imaging of particle surfaces and interfaces can receive precise interpretation with aberration correctors for the image, probe, or a combination of both. An optional monochromator significantly enhances the Titan's analytical capabilities compared with conventional FEG-TEMs.