Interlaboratory study of automated sorption measurements in wood: method for correcting systematic errors with the commonly used 0.002% min−1 stop criterion

Abstract Many studies that use an automated sorption balance to determine a water vapor sorption isotherm for wood collect data until the moisture content change is less than or equal to 0.002% min −1 (20 µg g −1 min −1 ). This stop criterion has been claimed to give errors in equilibrium moisture content (EMC) predictions of less than 0.001 g g −1 but over the past 10 years, studies have shown that the actual errors can be greater than 0.01 g g −1 because the measurements are stopped well before equilibrium is reached. Despite the large errors associated with this stop criterion, it remains popular due to the speed at which isotherms can be measured. This paper utilizes data from a worldwide interlaboratory study on automated sorption balances to develop a correction method for estimating EMC of western larch ( Larix occidentalis Nutt.) from the moisture content corresponding to the 20 µg g −1 min −1 criterion. The study uses data from 72 relative humidity absorption steps with hold times of 7–10 days from 21 different laboratories and eight different instrument models. EMC is defined based on the inherent mass stability of automated sorption balances determined in the first part of this interlaboratory study. On average the sorption process is less than 80% complete when the 20 µg g −1 min −1 criterion is reached, resulting in a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.006 g g −1 . The correction equation for estimating EMC reduces the MAE to 0.001 g g −1 . The analysis presented in this paper, along with the correction equation, can be considered for certain use cases to reduce systematic errors and shorten measurement times.

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Journal
Adsorption
Published
2025-10-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10450-025-00655-y
Primary Topic
Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Interlaboratory study of automated sorption measurements in wood: method for correcting systematic errors with the commonly used 0.002% min−1 stop criterion

Michael Altgen, Romain Rémond, F. Dreisbach, Gustav A. Nystrom et al.
Adsorption
Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
article

Interlaboratory study of automated sorption measurements in wood: method for correcting systematic errors with the commonly used 0.002% min−1 stop criterion

Michael Altgen, Romain Rémond, F. Dreisbach, Gustav A. Nystrom, Darren P. Broom, Brahim Mazian, Armando R. Garcia, Simon Curling, Jennifer A. Schott, Ingo Burgert, Tina Künniger, Nanna Bjerregaard Pedersen, Lauri Rautkari, Jerzy Majka, Christopher H. Dreimol, Natalia Farkas, Patrick Perré, Jinzhen Cao, Luis García Esteban, Mark Roper, Gilles Lubineau, Arief Yudhanto, Daniel J. Burnett, Lukas Emmerich, Mohammad Subah, Matthew Schwarzkopf, Maria Fredriksson, Samuel V. Glass, Emil Engelund Thybring, Samuel L. Zelinka, Thibaut Colinart, Yujiao Wang, Wiesław Olek, Alberto García‐Iruela, Louis Waguespack
article en

Abstract

Abstract Many studies that use an automated sorption balance to determine a water vapor sorption isotherm for wood collect data until the moisture content change is less than or equal to 0.002% min −1 (20 µg g −1 min −1 ). This stop criterion has been claimed to give errors in equilibrium moisture content (EMC) predictions of less than 0.001 g g −1 but over the past 10 years, studies have shown that the actual errors can be greater than 0.01 g g −1 because the measurements are stopped well before equilibrium is reached. Despite the large errors associated with this stop criterion, it remains popular due to the speed at which isotherms can be measured. This paper utilizes data from a worldwide interlaboratory study on automated sorption balances to develop a correction method for estimating EMC of western larch ( Larix occidentalis Nutt.) from the moisture content corresponding to the 20 µg g −1 min −1 criterion. The study uses data from 72 relative humidity absorption steps with hold times of 7–10 days from 21 different laboratories and eight different instrument models. EMC is defined based on the inherent mass stability of automated sorption balances determined in the first part of this interlaboratory study. On average the sorption process is less than 80% complete when the 20 µg g −1 min −1 criterion is reached, resulting in a mean absolute error (MAE) of 0.006 g g −1 . The correction equation for estimating EMC reduces the MAE to 0.001 g g −1 . The analysis presented in this paper, along with the correction equation, can be considered for certain use cases to reduce systematic errors and shorten measurement times.

AdsorptionVol. 31(7)
University of Primorska (SI), University of Copenhagen (DK), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), US Forest Service (US), Bangor University (GB), Waters (United States) (US), Lund University (SE), Missouri University of Science and Technology (US), Université Paris-Saclay (FR), Université de Bretagne Sud (FR), Beijing Forestry University (CN), ETH Zurich (CH), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), CentraleSupélec (FR), Institut de Recherche Dupuy de Lôme (FR), Forest Products Laboratory (US), Process Instruments (United States) (US), Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NO), Hiden Analytical (United Kingdom) (GB), Forest and Wood Products (Australia) (AU), Industrial Measurement Systems (United States) (US), Laboratoire d'Etude et de Recherche sur le Matériau Bois (FR), University of Life Sciences in Poznań (PL), Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (CH), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (SA), University of Göttingen (DE), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (ES), Université de Lorraine (FR), Aalto University (FI), Schools of Visual Arts, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (DK)
U.S. Forest Service
Openalex Percentile: Top 64%
Indoor Air Quality and Microbial Exposure
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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