Surface Measurement Systems DVS Advantage Dynamic Vapour Sorption System

The Dynamic Vapour Sorption System (DVS) is part of the Surface Measurement Systems UK (SMS) product range of dynamic vapour sorption (DVS) technology and inverse gas chromatography instrumentation and solutions.

The DVS Advantage uses dry air or dry nitrogen as a carrier gas. The user can select one of any two vapour sources, originating from liquid organic solvents or water held at the same temperature as the DVS. When the dry carrier gas passes through a solvent, it becomes saturated with the vapours of that solvent.

Precise control of the ratio of saturated and dry gas flow is enabled with mass flow control combined with the use of real-time vapour concentration monitoring. A known concentration of the selected vapour then flows over a sample suspended from a recording ultramicrobalance, which measures the change in weight caused by sorption or desorption of the vapour molecules. These dynamic flow conditions enable the adsorption/desorption processes to be so rapidly studied.

Applications include: moisture uptake behaviour of food and natural materials; stability and caking of food ingredients; moisture diffusion into blister packaging systems; moisture sorption of hydrophobic pharmaceutical materials; and surface energies and surface areas of powders using organic vapour probes.

Research fields for the complete DVS range are pharmaceuticals (powders, tablets, APIs and excipient materials); food (powders, processed food, biscuits); natural materials (grains/seed, wood); building materials (aggregates, cement, ceramics); personal care products (cosmetics, hair care, contact lenses); and packaging materials (paper, plastics).