New experimental setup for continuous mass flux measurement in pervaporation

Pervaporation is a separation process of liquid mixtures through a thin non-porous membrane. In vacuum pervaporation, the global mass flux is classically estimated by weighing the mass of permeate collected in cold traps. In this work, we propose a new experimental setup that allows a continuous measurement of the mass flux. The new mass flux method measurement was validated for single component permeation (ethanol and water) by comparing mass of permeate collected in cold traps with the level decrease of feed liquid measured with a pressure sensor. This new setup can be useful for laboratory studies dealing with the evolution of mass flux according to different parameters of the process as, for example, the permeate side pressure level or temperature of liquid feed.