Current State of Process Raman Spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy was discovered over 75 years ago but has only been a viable process tool for 10-15 years. However, there has been an astounding increase in process Raman spectroscopy examples in the last five years. The United States Food and Drag Administration s (US FDA) endorsement of process analytical technology clearly set off an explosion of activity. Problems that sometimes sidelined Raman in the past, such as fluorescence or highly variable quantitative predictions from samples that were too small to be representative, are being re-examined and leading to new technology. In turn, that helps open, or perhaps reopen, new application areas. The availabihty of easy to use Raman instrumentation at many prices also helps with that. 

However, process spectroscopy is, almost by definition, done to measure and control an industrial process. Most of the work is driven by business needs, such as improving profits or product quality. In competitive business environments, firms preserve every advantage possible by protecting valuable measurement systems 

Pelletier, Quantitative Raman spectroscopy, Appl. Spectrosc., 57, 20A-42A (2003). 

Shaver, Chemometrics for Raman spectroscopy, in Handbook of Raman Spectroscopy From the Research Laboratory to the Process Line, I.R. Lewis and H.G.M. Edwards (Eds), Practical Spectroscopy Series 28, Marcel Dekker, New York, 2001. 

Treado and M.D. Morris, Infrared and Raman spectroscopic imaging, in Microscopic and Spectroscopic Imaging of the Chemical State, M.D. Morris (Ed), Practical Spectroscopy Series 16, Marcel Dekker, New York, 1993. 

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