Adsorption rates of 2,2-dimethylbutane (DMB) from the liquid phase into MFI zeolite crystals were measured by a volumetric/gravimetric method. Desorption rates in the presence of liquid n-hexane were measured by a non-adsorbing solvent (isooctane) method. Dimethylbutane desorbed, and was replaced by n-hexane, approximately three orders of magnitude faster than it adsorbed. Adsorption was slow and reached only 40% of saturation loading in 6-μm crystals after 45 days at 295 K, but this DMB loading desorbed into n-hexane in less than 1 h. Desorption may be faster due to slight expansion of the MFI unit cell by n-hexane adsorption. Although DMB diffused slower than n-hexane in MFI crystals, its transient time through a silicalite-1 membrane was an order of magnitude shorter than the n-hexane time at 313 K because DMB diffused through defects, whereas n-hexane diffused mainly through zeolite pores. The n-hexane transient time was longer because n-hexane: (1) expanded the MFI crystal size slightly and shrank non-zeolitic pores, and (2) adsorbed in the zeolite as it moved through the remaining non-zeolitic pores. A silicalite-1 membrane saturated with DMB at 423 K was sealed so effectively, and DMB desorbed slowly enough, that the helium permeation flux at 313 K was below the detection limit.