Porous Materials Inc

about PMI

Porous Materials Inc., USA manufactures novel platforms for testing of porous materials and is a well recognized market leader in porosity solutions. With more than 35 years experience, PMI provides a wide array of lab instruments targeted at both academia and industries for analysis of powder and bulk materials.

Our instruments can measure surface area, density, pore size, pore size distribution, specific gas and vapor interactions (Porometer, Porosimeter, Permeameter, Pycnometer, BET Sorptometer and many more). We also manufacture and provide a broad range of lab instrumentation for the Oil & Gas industry (Rock Core Analysis Instruments). The testing services division of PMI offers contract testing services for a wide variety of pore characterization tests. In addition, we hold several US and International patents on novel technology for characterization of pore structure.

Porous Materials Inc. has blossomed into a global enterprise and have noticed exponential growth. Porous Materials Inc.'s corporate headquarters has a manufacturing facility, R&D, and material testing lab,located in Ithaca, New York. There are regional offices in Germany, India, China and Dubai. In addition, we have a global network of distributors in more than 50+ countries.

Porometers

Advanced Capillary Flow Porometer
Advanced Permeability Porometer
Advanced Pore Pro Porometer

Permeameters

Advanced Bendsten Permeability and Surface Roughness Tester
Advanced Permeability Porosimeter
Advanced Porosimeter Permeameter

Porosimeters

Compression Liquid Extrusion Porosimeter
Helium Porosimeter
Liquid Extrusion Porosimeter

Pycnometers

Gas Pycnometer and Helium Pycnometers
Mercury Pycnometer
PYC-100A

Sorptometers

BET-201A
BET-201AEL
BET-201A-2OS

Rock Core

Automated Nuclear Resonance
Automated Single Sample Pulse Decay Permeameter/Porosimeter
Advanced Pulse Decay Permeameters

Educational Series

Educational Gas Permeameter
Educational Liquid Permeameter
Educational Resistivity System

Advanced Pressure Products

Automated Battery Burst Pressure Tester
Automated Hydraulic Pressure Control System
Automated Pressure Regulator

Hollow and Flat Sheet Membranes

Hollow Fiber Membranes (HFM’s) are a class of artificial membranes containing a semi-permeable barrier in the form of a hollow fiber. Originally developed in the 1960’s for reverse osmosis applications, hollow fiber membranes have since become prevalent in water treatment, desalination, cell culture, medicine, and tissue engineering. Most commercial hollow fiber membranes are packed into cartridges which can be used for a variety of liquid and gaseous separations. Flat Sheet polymeric membranes are also ideal for any process requiring the testing of a variety of separation techniques. The flat sheet polymeric membranes are available in different shapes including rectangles, squares, or pre-cut to fit any process. PMI manufactures Hollow Fibre Spinning Apparatus and Flat Sheet Membrane Casting Machines for lab scale fabrication of membranes. PMI is also a pioneer in porosity measurement instruments for pore characterization of membranes.
Related Products

Capillary Flow Porometers, Liquid Liquid Porometers, Hollow Fibre Spinning Machine, Flat Sheet Casting Machine
Related Publications

Liquid-liquid porometer: H. Shi, F. Liu, and L Xue, “Fabrication and characterization of antibacterial PVDF hollow fibre membrane by doping Ag-loaded zeolites”, J. Membr. Sci., 437, 205 – 215 (2013)

Capillary flow porometer: A. Jena and K. Gupta, “An innovative technique for pore structure analysis of fuel cell and battery components using flow porometry”, 96, 214 – 219 (2001) D. Li, M. W. Frey, and Y. L. Joo, “Characterization of nanofibrous membranes with capillary flow porometry”, J. Membr. Sci., 286, 104 – 114 (2006)
Water Desalination

Desalination or desalinization is a process that removes minerals from saline water. More generally, desalination may also refer to the removal of salts and minerals, as in soil desalination, which also happens to be a major issue for agricultural production. PMI Porosity characterization instruments have been installed at various research centers working in the field of water desalination.
Related Products

Capillary Flow Porometers , Liquid Liquid Porometers
Related Publications

Liquid-liquid porometer: H. Shi, F. Liu, and L Xue, “Fabrication and characterization of antibacterial PVDF hollow fibre membrane by doping Ag-loaded zeolites”, J. Membr. Sci., 437, 205 – 215 (2013)
Tissue Engineering

Tissue engineering is the use of a combination of cells, engineering and materials methods, and suitable biochemical and physicochemical factors to improve or replace biological functions. While it was once categorized as a sub-field of biomaterials, having grown in scope and importance, it can be considered as a field in its own right.

While most definitions of tissue engineering cover a broad range of applications, in practice the term is closely associated with applications that repair or replace portions of or whole tissues (i.e., bone, cartilage, blood vessels, bladder, skin, muscle etc.). Often, the tissues involved require certain mechanical and structural properties for proper functioning. The term has also been applied to efforts to perform specific biochemical functions using cells within an artificially-created support system (e.g. an artificial pancreas, or a bio artificial liver). The term regenerative medicine is often used synonymously with tissue engineering, although those involved in regenerative medicine place more emphasis on the use of stem cells or progenitor cells to produce tissues.
Related Products

Liquid Extrusion Porosimeter
Related Publications
Nanofiltration & Ultrafiltration

Nanofiltration is a relatively recent membrane filtration process used most often with low total dissolved solids water such as surface water and fresh groundwater, with the purpose of softening (polyvalent cation removal) and removal of disinfection by-product precursors such as natural and/ or synthetic organic matter. Nanofiltration is also becoming more widely used in food processing applications such as dairy, for simultaneous concentration and partial (monovalent ion) demineralization. Whereas Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which forces like pressure or concentration gradients lead to a separation through a semipermeable membrane. Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained in the so-called retentate, while water and low molecular weight solutes pass through the membrane in the permeate. This separation process is used in industry and research for purifying and concentrating macromolecular (103 - 106 Da) solutions, especially protein solutions. Ultrafiltration is not fundamentally different from microfiltration. Both of these separate based on size exclusion or particle capture. It is fundamentally different from membrane gas separation, which separates based on different amounts of absorption and different rates of diffusion. Ultrafiltration membranes are defined by the molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of the membrane used. Ultrafiltration is applied in cross-flow or dead-end mode. PMI’s Liquid Liquid Porometer provides pore size measurement for as low as 2nm , while the Capillary Flow Porometers provide pore size measurement capability as low as 13 nm and up to 500 microns on the higher side.
Related Products

Capillary Flow Porometers, Liquid Liquid Porometers
Related Publications

Liquid-liquid porometer: H. Shi, F. Liu, and L Xue, “Fabrication and characterization of antibacterial PVDF hollow fibre membrane by doping Ag-loaded zeolites”, J. Membr. Sci., 437, 205 – 215 (2013)
Pharmaceuticals

The pharmaceutical industry develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceuticals for use as medications. Pharmaceutical companies may deal in generic or brand medications and medical devices. They are subject to a variety of laws and regulations that govern the patenting, testing, safety, efficacy and marketing of drugs. Surface area, pore size distribution, absolute density of various powder and granule materials is an important parameter for the drug development process.
Related Products

BET Sorptometer, Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter, Pycnometer
Oil and Gas

Petroleum consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic compounds. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms, usually zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock and subjected to both intense heat and pressure.

Petroleum has mostly been recovered by oil drilling. This comes after the studies of structural geology (at the reservoir scale), sedimentary basin analysis, reservoir characterization (mainly in terms of the porosity and permeability of geologic reservoir structures). It is refined and separated, most easily by distillation, into a large number of consumer products, from gasoline (petrol) and kerosene to asphalt and chemical reagents used to make plastics and pharmaceuticals. Permeability and Porosity of rock cores is an important part of well development and these parameters also help researchers identify sites with high rate of recovery of oil and gas. PMI manufactures various products for porosity and permeability measurement for both conventional and unconventional sources.
Related Publications

Related Products

Rock Core Tester, Pulse Decay Permeameter, Gas Permeameter, Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter, Liquid Permeameter, Confining Pressure Permeameters, Core Saturators, Capillary Pressure Tester
Paper & Pulp

Porosity in paper is a measure of the extent to which a paper surface will allow the penetration of a gas or liquid, such as air or ink, through its surface. The nature of paper is such that the bonding of the paper fibers produces many tiny air passages throughout the paper, which can be completely encased in the paper, extend from the surface down into the interior of the paper, or penetrate completely through the sheet. The porosity of a type of paper is a function of the various stages of the paper-making process.
Related Products

Burst Strength Tester, Capillary Flow Porometers
Ceramics

Ceramics have interesting design properties. They have excellent mechanical properties in compression, but are terrible when tensile loads are applied to them, and are typically very brittle. Porous ceramics are used in filtration, diffusion, separation and purification applications. Uniquely porous, this ceramic material contains open-cell structure that allows the free flow of liquid or gas to an opposing structure allowing fluidic communication. Porous ceramic can be used in place of metals, plastics or fibers providing equal or higher levels of performance and extending the useful life under harsh conditions.

Porous ceramics have a wide range of uses in manufacturing across industries such as medical, mining, oil & gas exploration, alternative energy, emissions control, metal refinement, chemical processing, pharmaceutical, printing, wine making and other industries. Specific applications include instrumentation, analytical sensors, semiconductor components, alternative energy assemblies, battery separators, emissions monitoring sensors, among many others. As with most filtration methods, water is carefully introduced to one side of the filter, which acts to block the passage of anything larger than the pore size. Typically bacteria, protozoa, and microbial cysts are removed but the filters are not effective against viruses since they are small enough to pass through to the other "clean" side of the filter. Ceramic water filters (CWF) may be treated with silver in a form that will not leach away. The silver helps to kill or incapacitate bacteria and prevent the growth of mold and algae in the body of the filter.

Ceramic filtration does not remove chemical contaminants per se. However, some manufacturers (especially of ceramic candle filters) incorporate a high-performance activated carbon core inside the ceramic filter cartridge that reduces organic & metallic contaminants. The active carbon absorbs compounds such as chlorine. Filters with active carbon need to be replaced periodically because the carbon becomes clogged with foreign material.
Related Products

Capillary Flow Porometers, Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter, BET Sorptometer, Liquid Liquid Porometers
Related Publications

Liquid-liquid porometer: H. Shi, F. Liu, and L Xue, “Fabrication and characterization of antibacterial PVDF hollow fibre membrane by doping Ag-loaded zeolites”, J. Membr. Sci., 437, 205 – 215 (2013)

Capillary flow porometer: A. Jena and K. Gupta, “An innovative technique for pore structure analysis of fuel cell and battery components using flow porometry”, 96, 214 – 219 (2001) D. Li, M. W. Frey, and Y. L. Joo, “Characterization of nanofibrous membranes with capillary flow porometry”, J. Membr. Sci., 286, 104 – 114 (2006)
Battery Separators

Abattery is a device consisting of two or more electrochemical cells that convert stored chemical energy into electrical energy. Each cell has a positive terminal, or cathode, and a negative terminal, or anode. The terminal marked positive is at a higher electrical potential energy than is the terminal marked negative. The terminal marked negative is the source of electrons that when connected to an external circuit will flow and deliver energy to an external device. When a battery is connected to an external circuit, electrolytes are able to move as ions within, allowing the chemical reactions to be completed at the separate terminals and so deliver energy to the external circuit. It is the movement of those ions within the battery which allows current to flow out of the battery to perform work.
Related Products

Capillary Flow Porometers, Mercury Intrusion Porosimeter, BET Sorptometer, Liquid Liquid Porometers
Related Publications

Liquid-liquid porometer: H. Shi, F. Liu, and L Xue, “Fabrication and characterization of antibacterial PVDF hollow fibre membrane by doping Ag-loaded zeolites”, J. Membr. Sci., 437, 205 – 215 (2013)

Capillary flow porometer: A. Jena and K. Gupta, “An innovative technique for pore structure analysis of fuel cell and battery components using flow porometry”, 96, 214 – 219 (2001) D. Li, M. W. Frey, and Y. L. Joo, “Characterization of nanofibrous membranes with capillary flow porometry”, J. Membr. Sci., 286, 104 – 114 (2006)
Fuel Cells

One of the critical factors which determine the performance of fuel cells is the pore structure characteristic of many of the fuel cell components such as membranes, GDLs, separators, and electrodes. Pore structure governs the flow and the kinetics of the physio-chemical processes which occur in the fuel cell. The pore structure characteristics, important and relevant for fuel cell components are pore diameter, pore throat diameter, pore volume, pore distribution, graded pore structure, surface area, external surface area, total porosity, hydrophobic and hydrophilic nature of pores in a mixture, liquid and gas permeability, and diffusional flow. In a working fuel cell, the chemical environment, the operating temperature, the humidity, and the stresses generated during the operation can considerably alter the pore structure. Therefore, not only the determination of pore structure characteristics is important, evaluation of the influence of stress, temperature, and chemical environments on structural characteristics is also relevant.
Related Products

Fuel Cell Porometer , Capillary Flow Porometers, Pycnometer, Gas Diffusion Permeameter
Related Publications

Capillary Flow Porometer: A. Jena and K. Gupta, “An innovative technique for pore structure analysis of fuel cell and battery components using flow porometry”, 96, 214 – 219 (2001) D. Li, M. W. Frey, and Y. L. Joo, “Characterization of nanofibrous membranes with capillary flow porometry”, J. Membr. Sci., 286, 104 – 114 (2006)
Non Woven

Nonwoven fabric is a fabric-like material made from long fibers, bonded together by chemical, mechanical, heat or solvent treatment. The term is used in the textile manufacturing industry to denote fabrics, such as felt, which are neither woven nor knitted. Some nonwoven materials lack sufficient strength unless densified or reinforced by a backing. In recent years, nonwovens have become an alternative to polyurethane foam.
Related Products

Geo Pore Pro Porometer, Capillary Flow Porometers, Gas Permeameter