People Power: Thierry Courtois, Expert In Membrane Processes

Thierry Courtois, Expert In Membrane Processes at IFTS in Agen, France.

Thierry Courtois joined IFTS in January 2013 to develop a new department focused on Membrane Separation (PSM). He brings 25 years of experience in the field.

He is responsible for the characterization and testing of technical and economical case studies of membrane applications.

An expert in the evaluation of membrane pore sizes, this knowledge is now integrated at IFTS and is offered as a standard commercial service.

IFTS is involved in European, National and local research and development projects including the development of a full-scale water treatment testing pilot plant for municipal wastewater and drinking water production.

Courtois studied Chemical Process Engineering and earned a PhD in Membrane Filtration Processes.

New Particle Differentiation Software

An image of particles deposited on a membrane. The metallic particle is differentiated.

In order to help customers identify the nature of the particles extracted from compounds during cleanliness controls, IFTS has purchased the latest Microvision software.

This software can differentiate metallic and non-metallic particles in 95% of cases. The analysis software detects all particles observed under an optical microscope and determines the following characteristics: length, width, elongation, color, intensity and brightness.

By establishing a threshold according to the brightness and intensity of the reflected light, metallic particles are counted separately from all other particles.