How it works

The liquid was never the point. The solid was.

The old way reads the solution before and after, then subtracts to guess what the material took up. We turned that around. A force balance weighs the working solid as it runs, in the liquid that matters. Scroll to walk through it: the problem first, then the method.

The problem, first

The number you care about is on the solid. Today it is only ever guessed.

Adsorption is judged by what disappears from the liquid — read it before, read it after, subtract, and infer the solid. The material you actually bought never goes on a balance.

The indirect method, frozen: the liquid is read twice, the solid stays a question mark.

The journey, in words

From the guess to a direct reading on your material.

01
Sorpmetrics · Sorpmetrics
We make adsorption visible.
The whole point of a porous material is what it holds — so we made that holding something you can watch and weigh.
02
The problem · The standard method · today
Your whole process rests on one number.
Capacity, release, how long it lasts — every decision rides on how much the solid holds. Here is how the industry measures it today: read the liquid first — 50 mg/L.
03
The problem · The standard method · step two
Add the solid. The liquid drops.
The porous material soaks molecules up — 16 mg/L now — but the solid itself never goes on a balance.
04
The problem · The standard method · the catch
Subtract the two, and call it the answer.
50 − 16 = 34 — but only inferred. The number you act on is a difference of two liquid reads, never a reading of the material. It is only ever approximate.
05
The flip · Measured, not inferred
Weigh the solid itself.
The porous solid floats in the working liquid, suspended from a probe that reads its mass live — +12.842 µg, straight off the solid. The first number that isn't a guess.
06
The flip · Our method
This is how we do it.
Magnetic buoyancy weighs the working material live, in the liquid that matters — directly. We read the solid, so the solid answers.
07
Method · The sample
A solute, in a liquid solution.
We begin with the solute in solution; some of it has a low solubility and accumulates at the bottom.
08
Method · The adsorbent
Add a porous material.
Zeolite, MOF, activated carbon, silica gel — any porous solid. We weigh it directly.
09
Method · The method
Weighed live.
The solid is in, and the balance reads live — now watch the mass it captures.
10
Method · Step 01 · Adsorption
Uptake, measured.
Dissolved solute migrates into the pores; the rising curve is the mass held on the solid.
11
Method · Step 01 · Capacity
Maximum capacity.
The pores saturate and the curve plateaus — the maximum uptake per gram.
12
Method · Step 02 · Desorption
Controlled release.
Shift the conditions and the solute returns to solution. The solid is unharmed.
13
Method · Step 02 · Reversibility
Fully reversible.
Restore the conditions and it re-adsorbs to the same capacity.
14
Method · Step 03 · Degradation
Now introduce acid.
Acid — or any change in conditions: pH, temperature, solvent, concentration.
15
Method · Step 03 · Degradation
The framework gives way.
It breaks down and leaches — and, unlike desorption, this loss is irreversible.
16
Outcome · The full run
Now read every rate.
The same direct read on the solid gives capacity, and the slopes give the rates.
17
Outcome · Measurement 01
Adsorption rate.
How fast it takes up solute — the slope of the rise.
18
Outcome · Measurement 02
Desorption rate.
How fast it releases on the way back down.
19
Outcome · Measurement 03
Degradation rate.
The irreversible slope under acid — and the residual that survives.
20
Outcome · A menu of studies
Change a condition, run the study again.
Capacity now; isotherms, release kinetics, cycling and mixture co-loading — each as their own study, on your material.

The Sorpmetrics measurement device that weighs the solid in the liquid.

Adsorption & desorption profiles

What each study reads, before you book it.

The film shows how the read works; this shows what it produces. Pick a study to see its profile, the device it runs on, and how much material we need to load. Every curve is illustrative, not client data.

Illustrative — not client dataHover to read values

Equilibrium loading

≈ 18.6 wt% at the plateau

The loading read directly on the solid in your working liquid as it climbs to equilibrium — not inferred from the liquid by difference. One material, one analyte. Real numbers come from your samples after a feasibility check.

Device: PMC-1EMC-2DC-10000
Mass: At least 15 mg on the PMC-1 / EMC-2, or 50 mg on the DC-10000 (50–200 mg). A device spec, not an analyte limit of detection.

Your booking

Add the studies you want above — book one, or several together, in one trip.

Book this study

What we can measure

Reading the solid opens up a menu of studies.

One measurement gives one data point: capacity at one condition. Because the reading sits on the solid, we can also separate what reversibly loads from what permanently breaks down, which the by-difference method cannot do. Isotherms, release kinetics, cycling stability and mixture co-loading are each their own study.

Capacity per gram

Release kinetics

Cycling stability

Degradation & residual

In virtually any liquid

The explainer uses illustrative values. We build one calibration per material, so send a clean blank of each solid alongside your samples. We measure functional loading and release, not structural porosity.

Proof of mechanism

22.3 wt% CO₂, read on the wet solid.

We measure the CO₂ held inside the working solid — 22.3 wt%; the conventional gravimetric method, weighing the whole system from the outside, under-reads it at 17.1 wt%. That +5.2 wt% gap is exactly what the by-difference method misses: uptake that loaded into the solid but never showed in the solution. The full result, on our reference Cu₆Cr sample, is on the science page.

See the evidence base

2 patent families9 peer-reviewed papersdevice family PMC-1 / EMC-2 / DC-10000

CO₂-from-water · DOI

See it on your material

Send us a few samples. We will read what is on the solid.

Start with a feasibility check — we confirm the fit and define the use case with you.

Book a sorption study Talk to the lab