Since its invention by Dr. John T. Gleaves (then at Monsanto Company) in late 1980s, 
TAP has been used to study a variety of industrially and academically relevant catalytic reactions, bridging the gap between surface science
experiments and applied catalysis. 
The state-of-the-art TAP installations (TAP-3) do not only provide better signal-to-noise ratio than the first generation TAP machines (TAP-1),
but also allow for advanced automation and direct coupling with other techniques.