Petroleum & Petrochemical

Microtrace works with clients from all sectors of the petroleum and petrochemical industries:

• Upstream – Characterization of geological materials, corrosion, fouling, production failures and accidents.
• Midstream – Investigations ranging from pipeline explosions and tank failures to blending and transport contamination issues and spills.
• Downstream – Characterization and analysis supporting process reliability, catalyst deactivation, product and process quality control, contaminant identification, locating and identifying corrosive species, determination of corrosion and fouling mechanisms, failure analysis, and failure investigations.
• Research and development – Microscopical and nanoscopical investigation of product, catalyst, and intermediate materials coupled with chemical analyses and process performance measures integrated to provide insights in new and existing refining and chemical processes.

Areas of Expertise

• Unusual materials – Although nearly all companies in the petroleum industry have chemical and microscopy facilities of some type, laboratories turn to the expertise at Microtrace for our ability to solve atypical questions and work with minute samples and uncommon substances.
• Overflow samples – Microtrace works with microscopy facilities to reduce sample backlogs, permitting in house facilities to focus on high priority samples and research.
• Litigation support – In instances where analysis and interpretation has a potential impact on litigation, the use of a proven and reliable independent laboratory can help to alleviate concerns about biased analyses and sample preservation.  Microtrace provides scientific support in a wide range of claims arising from patent infringements, quality issues, and product failure.
• Microstructural characterization – Microtrace maintains a variety of micro-analytical techniques for imaging microscopic and nanoscopic structure along with a broad range of scientific understanding of materials and structural properties.
• Elemental and chemical mapping – We provide a range of in situ characterization options to study the spatial distribution of chemical and elemental heterogeneity on a microscale or nanoscale.
• Failure analysis – Elucidation of failure mechanisms through scientific analysis.
• Foreign matter identification – Identification and sourcing of inclusions, discolorations, stains, and other systemic or one-off issues.
• Ingredient characterization – Comparison of ingredients from different products or suppliers to identify, define, and understand subtle, and significant differences that are not necessarily captured by product specifications.

How May We Help You?