My career started in a Sadaci, a company that converts Molybdenum ores, where I was responsible for Atomic Absorption, WD-XRF and the implementation of an ISO 9001 Quality system.

In 1993, I started working in the research facility of Texaco Ghent, that later became Chevron. During the first 5-7 years my main field of activity was elemental analysis (WD- and ED-XRF, ICP, DCP, AAS, RDS, CHNS-O-analyzer and ferrographic analysis). I mainly worked on the installation of new equipment in Ghent and the development and improvement of new test methods. This often-involved fundamental research to solve practical problems. This type of work gave me the opportunity to present new findings/developments on international congresses (Annual Denver X-Ray Conference, European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, European Conference on ED-XRF, Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale, …). At that time, I was also the representative of Belgium for the CEN TC19 WG27 (development of the new ISO norms for low Sulfur in automotive Fuels).

Later, the scope of my work changed, in a way I was more involved in lab automation and giving support to affiliates. This support was given for all Texaco and Chevron labs worldwide, involving a considerable amount of travelling. This type of work also allowed me to have a close relationship with instrument suppliers to fine-tune their instruments for petrochemical applications.

My company X-Ray Services was founded in 2000. The first 8 years I worked in parallel with my activities at Chevron. After leaving Chevron in 2008,  I work full-time as consultant for my own company in the field of Spectroscopic Analysis. Most of my customers are laboratories related to the petrochemical industry and to automotive engine builders. The activities are in line with what I did for Chevron. Below you find a brief summary;

• Work as consultant for customers that require on-site training and calibrations for XRF and ICP- OES equipment, and this for already installed instruments as well as for new installed instruments.

• Work as consultant for XRF instrument suppliers help improving their hardware and software and to explore new application fields. I also perform the Master Calibrations (calibrations which are commercially available and come from a master instrument) for two main XRF instrument suppliers and for one main ICP-OES instrument supplier.

• Guide and assist customers that must invest in new elemental analysis equipment by giving them independent advises.

I also developed an extended  line of specific test consumables for XRF-analysis, I am distributor of certified organometallic standards for ICP and XRF analysis and producer of certified sets of calibration standards for most ASTM, ISO, IP and DIN XRF test methods.