A fixed bed of porous materials (e.g. activated carbons and zeolites) is pressurized and purged with a carrier gas. After becoming stationary one or more adsorptives are added to the carrier gas, resulting in a step-wise change of the inlet concentration. This is in contrast to chromatographic separation processes, where pulse-wise changes of the inlet concentrations are used. The course of the adsorptive concentrations at the outlet of the fixed bed are monitored.