About PoreXpert Ltd
PoreXpert Ltd was set up to disseminate £4.5m of research into porous materials carried out at the University of Plymouth, UK. Its core activities are sales of the PoreXpert software, which is under constant development, and consultancy based on use of the software and expertise on the experimental measurements to generate data for the model.
The software is world-leading, patented and trademarked.
The company CEO, and main contact point, is Professor G. Peter Matthews, Emeritus Professor of Applied Physical Chemistry at the University of Plymouth (further details are on his university staff page).
Company details
Incorporation date: 5th September 2012
Registered as a limited company in the UK, company number 08202603.
Registered address: 28 Alexandra Terrace, Exmouth, Devon EX8 1BD, U.K.
VAT number: GB 168723968
Ownership: University of Plymouth, Frontier IP, and founding academic members.
Patents
Including accepted United States Patent Office Application No. 16/753539 in the name of PoreXpert Limited : Pore Analysis
Purpose and scope of the software
PoreXpert’s primary strength is its ability to inverse model the percolation characteristics of almost any rigid porous material, and generate a three-dimensional map of the corresponding ‘void network’ -i.e. the interconnected network of pores that can hold water (such as in the case of a bath sponge), oil (in the case of an oil reservoir sandstone) or a flowing gas (such as the carbon dioxide flowing through the microporous graphite in the core of a UK advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactor (AGR)). The primary measures of percolation characteristics are by mercury porosimetry, porometry or water retention. It is also possible to input mathematically specified void networks, for example on the basis of electron microscopy, and to modify existing structures to simulate ageing, higher pressure sintering, weight loss etc.
Materials that can be studied include catalysts, nuclear graphite, filters, battery separators, oil and gas reservoir sandstones and shale, sinters and soil. What PoreXpert cannot usefully model are highly ordered nanoporous materials such as zeolites, highly deformable materials (including bath sponges), and extremely highly porous materials such as aerogels.
Once the void structure has been generated, a wide range of void network properties can be measured, and the behaviour of pore fluids – liquids, gases, suspensions and dissolved ions – can be simulated.
For further details, see the software Help documentation.