How Graham Roeber Is Modernizing Lab Testing

For decades, measuring oil in water meant boiling off hazardous solvent and weighing what remained. The process was slow, unpleasant, and most laboratories simply tolerated it. Then, in 2007, the EPA withdrew the faster instrument methods because they relied on an ozone damaging solvent. Labs were pushed back to the old way. A small company in Hermon, Maine, decided to build something better.

That company is Orono Spectral Solutions, and in 2026 it welcomed a new CEO, Graham Roeber, a marine engineer with an MBA in logistics. His mission is clear and ambitious: bring twenty-first century testing to industries still working as though it were the twentieth.

The Problem Every Lab Learned to Tolerate

Picture a lab analyst's morning. A liter of sample. Roughly 100 milliliters of hexane. A precision balance, an oven, a fume hood, and hours of careful, repetitive work. That was the standard for measuring oil in water, and it carried real costs. Hazardous solvent had to be handled, stored, and disposed of safely. Results arrived slowly. The working conditions were far from pleasant.

When the EPA withdrew the faster methods, the industry had no modern alternative. OSS saw an opening that larger players had missed. Rather than accept the old process, the team in Maine engineered a solvent free method that would run on infrared instruments most labs already owned.

The result is ClearShot, the flagship product that changed the equation. A test that once required a liter of sample and an analyst's entire morning now needs only a 10 milliliter sample and a few minutes. No fume hood. No hazardous solvent to dispose of. No new hardware to buy.

Building a Standard the Industry Could Trust

Innovation alone does not win over cautious industrial laboratories. Credibility does. OSS developed the method behind ASTM D7575, a national test standard validated by twelve independent laboratories and reapproved in 2024. In EPA testing, the OSS method recovered 99.6 percent of the oil measured by the approved reference method.

That level of accuracy matters because it removes the usual excuse for inertia. Labs do not have to choose between speed and precision. They get both. The company also holds patents in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Brazil, protecting a platform it has carried far beyond its original application.

Perhaps the strongest endorsement comes from the instrument makers themselves. Leading manufacturers including Thermo Fisher, Shimadzu, Bruker, and JASCO publish methods built around the ClearShot consumable. When the companies that build the hardware recommend your approach, the market tends to follow.

A Leader Who Thinks in Systems

Graham Roeber brings a distinctive perspective to the role. As a marine engineer, he understands demanding industrial environments where equipment must perform reliably under pressure. As a logistics-minded executive, he thinks about how products, methods, and people move through complex systems. Both instincts shape how he leads OSS.

"Most industrial labs are still running a test designed for a different century," Roeber says. "Our job is to give them a better way to work without asking them to buy a new lab."

That philosophy is central to the company's appeal. OSS does not ask customers to overhaul their benches. ClearShot runs on infrared instruments labs already own. The barrier to adoption is low, and the payoff is immediate: faster results, safer working conditions, and no hazardous waste.

Roeber keeps the focus on the people who feel the difference most. "The best thing a lab analyst can tell me is that they forgot what the old method was like," he says. "Faster results, no solvent, no fume hood. That's the whole point."

Who OSS Serves, and Why It Matters

Today, OSS serves refineries, fertilizer and ammonia producers, offshore operators, and water treatment facilities, with customers in 44 countries. These are industries where testing is not optional. Regulatory compliance, product quality, and environmental monitoring all depend on accurate measurement of oil content.

Behind every one of those tests is a person. A lab analyst at a refinery. A technician at an ammonia plant. For years, these professionals handled hexane and waited hours for a single result. ClearShot gives them their mornings back and takes hazardous solvent off their benches. The human benefit is as meaningful as the technical one.

That is the quiet revolution OSS is driving. It does not just sell a consumable. It improves daily working life for the people who keep industrial facilities running safely and within regulation.

From One Product to a Platform

While oil in water remains its foundation, OSS is not standing still. The company has carried the same solvent free platform into oil in ammonia, urea, and DEF testing. It also offers ClearSampler, a tool for the safe collection of unknown materials, and the ability to fingerprint and identify specific oils within a sample.

Roeber is candid about the larger vision. "OSS is a spectroscopy company, not a one product company," he says. "Oil in water is where we started. Modernizing how industrial labs test is where we're going."

That ambition reframes the entire business. The goal is not simply to replace one outdated test. It is to become the partner industrial laboratories turn to whenever an old method deserves a modern replacement. Starting with refinery and ammonia plant labs worldwide, OSS intends to expand laboratory modernization across industries that still depend on legacy processes.

A Maine Company With Global Reach

There is something fitting about a small Maine company solving a problem the broader industry had resigned itself to. OSS did not wait for a regulatory nudge or a competitor's lead. It identified a genuine gap, engineered a rigorous solution, earned a national standard, and built a global customer base across oil and gas, chemicals, environmental testing, and quality control.

Under Roeber's leadership, that momentum has a clear direction. The company combines scientific credibility with a practical understanding of how real labs operate. It respects the budgets, routines, and equipment already in place, then makes them dramatically more effective.

The story of OSS is ultimately a story about progress that does not demand disruption. It is proof that better safety, faster results, and cleaner operations can arrive without a costly overhaul.

Discover a Better Way to Test

If your laboratory still relies on solvent extraction to measure oil, there is a proven, standardized, and safer alternative that runs on the instruments you already own. Explore how ClearShot can give your analysts faster results, eliminate hazardous waste, and modernize your bench without new hardware. Learn more about the method trusted in 44 countries, and see what laboratory modernization can do for your facility.

Explore More About Orono Spectral Solutions

Connect with Orono Spectral Solutions, Graham Roeber on LinkedIn, and OSS on LinkedIn.