Markes International GmbH

Since 1997, Markes International has been at the forefront of innovation for enhancing the measurement of trace-level volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds (VOCs and SVOCs) by gas chromatography (GC).

Our range of thermal desorption products, led by our flagship UNITY™ and TD-100™ thermal desorbers, have for well over a decade set the benchmark in the field for quality and reliability. By lowering detection limits, and increasing the options open to the analyst, our thermal desorbers facilitate automation, and greatly extend the application range of GC. Our comprehensive portfolio of thermal desorption products also includes numerous sampling accessories, and the widest range of consumables on the market.

In addition to our long-established reputation for thermal desorption, we also manufacture the BenchTOF™ range of time-of-flight mass spectrometers for GC, as well as associated software. Now with the unique capability to adjust the ionisation energy without the hassle of other soft ionisation techniques, our BenchTOF range exemplifies our approach to our entire business – developing solutions from the ground up that directly meet the challenges faced every day by analysts.

Our instruments are used in a range of VOC and SVOC monitoring scenarios​. Pre-eminent amongst these ​is environmental monitoring – the detection of hazardous chemicals in air, water and soil. In addition to this, our systems have long been used to detect chemical warfare agents (homeland security), and are finding increasingly important applications in the field of material emissions and metabolomics. They are also widely used in advanced research, such as petrochemical fingerprinting, breath sampling for disease diagnosis, and investigations into the role of volatiles in plant–herbivore interactions. Our factory, technical centre and headquarters ​are near Cardiff, UK. In 2011, we expanded this and our USA operation in Cincinnati, Ohio (Markes International, Inc.), adding extra laboratory and demonstration facilities. In 2013 we became a company of the Schauenburg International Group, and opened a technical centre near Frankfurt as part of our German operation (Markes International GmbH).

In 2015, Markes International was awarded the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade.

Markes is proud to be a business member of the Institute of Export (IoE) and a member of the British Measurement and Testing Association (BMTA).