Patent ID: 7295295

Claim:
A method for determining the concentration of a solute in a composition comprising the solute in a solvent, the method comprising the steps of: a) measuring the refractive index of a test composition having an unknown concentration of the solute in the solvent, wherein the composition is selected from the group consisting of: i) a paste having at least 5% weight percent solids of a vinyl ac'etate monomer, vinyl acetate oligomers, vinyl acetate polymers, or a combination thereof and a viscosity of at least 100 cps at 25° C.; and ii) an aqueous solution comprising polyvinyl alcohol; b) determining the concentration of the solute in the composition by correlating the refractive index of the test composition to a calibration table which relates refractive index to the solute concentration, wherein the calibration table was prepared by measuring the refractive index of a plurality of known compositions, each of the known compositions having a known solute concentration, wherein the components of the test composition are essentially identical to the components of the known compositions, and wherein the refractive index of the test composition and the refractive index of the known compositions is measured using a fiber optic refractometer.