An apparatus for pervaporation of liquid mixtures by flat polymer membranes
is described. Two different methods for determination of pervaporation flu
xes - the classic direct gravimetric method (whereby the pervaporate is con
densed and then weighed) and the sorption method (where the pervaporate is
adsorbed into the active carbon and the mass is determined from the change
in length of the quartz spring balance on which the active carbon is suspen
ded) are described and the results are compared with the system l-butanol-t
oluene-low density polyethylene membrane at 25 degrees C. It was found that
over shorter periods of time the sorption method gave more accurate result
s even for very small fluxes than with the direct method.