Patent ID: 8191435

Claim:
A method for performing analysis of gases present in a gaseous mixture, characterized by the steps of: collecting gases within a tube defining a conduit having at least one inlet and one outlet flowing a plurality of vapors in a gaseous volume therethrough, said conduit is filled with a metal foam core containing at least one sorbent disposed within said metal foam, said sorbent is configured to selectively adsorb and desorb preselected materials at designated conditions, said metal foam is further configured to have sufficient thermal conductivity whereby essentially uniform temperatures are obtained throughout said metal foam in response to heating or cooling; sorbing said plurality of vapors on said sorbent within said metal foam to concentrate said plurality of vapors therein; and heating said sorbent to a temperature sufficient to desorb said plurality of concentrated vapors therefrom, said desorption generating a response of sufficient sensitivity in a detector for detection and analysis of said plurality of concentrated vapors.