Distillation: Separation of Alcohol and Water

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Distillation Separation of Alcohol and Water

Abstract

In this experiment, we separate 15 mL of a 0% ethanol-water solution by using the method of simple distillation and fractional distillation.

Introduction

The most common method for separating and purifying volatile liquids is distillation, which makes use of the specific boiling points of the liquid components in the mixture. It involves heating a substance to vapor and cool it down again. There are two methods of distillation¡Xsimple distillation and fractional distillation. When the minor component is nonvolatile, or when one of the liquids has a boiling point well below the others, that is, the components differ greater than 0-40 C, a simple distillation is used. However, if there are two or more liquid components, which have boiling points near each other which means the components differ by less than 0-40C, a fractional distillation must be used.

Azeotrope is a mixture of liquids that distill at a constant temperature without changing compositions. Also the composition of the vapor and liquid phases of azeotropes must be the same. The best-known is 5.5% ethanol and 4.5% water. Any mixture of component that forms an azeotrope, approaches the composition of the azeotrope and cannot be further separated. The refractive index of ethanol is n=1.. If I took the refractive index of the first ml distillate in the fractional distillation, it would be around n=1. since ethanol is the major component in the distillate.

Results/Discussion

In simple distillation, the experimental boiling points of ethanol and water are 8C and 100C respectively. In fractional distillation, the boiling points are 78C and 100C which correspond to the theoretical value. Also, the first couple mL of solution I collected in the graduated cylinder was mainly ethanol. Since ethanol has a relatively low boiling point, when the solution was heated to around 78C, ethanol solutes turned to vapor and condensed. When we repeat the process¡Xvaporization-condensation, the ethanol I collected is more pure. We have different results in simple distillation and fractional distillation because simple distillation is used when the boiling points of the components greater than 0-40C. Moreover, fractional column has varying numbers of theoretical plates which can repeat distilling the solution and yield a more accurate result. For the first theoretical plate, we should have got 800 ethanol-water, 8515 for the second, and 010 for the third one. Ethanol is more pure as it is distilled after each theoretical plate. On the other hand, no column is used in the simple distillation. As we know that the boiling point if ethanol is 78.C and water is 100C, simple distillation is not a good method to distill the solution ethanol-water. Hence, it gave a less accurate result than fractional distillation. According to the ethanol concentration of the solution, there is 15mL 0% = ml of pure ethanol. As the data shown in table 1 and , the temperatures of the solution in simple and fractional distillation are 4C and 8C respectively. Since the boiling point of ethanol is only 78.C, what makes the temperature (when volume=mL) higher is some water distilled and condensed when we distill ethanol-water. The higher the temperature, the more water distilled. Thus, for the same amount of mL liquid, the one obtained in fractional distillation has more ethanol than the one is simple distillation because 4C8C. Furthermore, the boiling point of ethanol in simple distillation (table 1) is a little bit higher because I placed the thermometer bulb too low, vapor impurities might reach it, and it gave a higher reading of boiling point.

volume(mL) Temp (C)

0.5 8

1 85

1.5 86

88

.5 1

4

.5 5

4 7

4.5 7

5

5.5

6

Volume(mL) Temp(C)

0.5 78

1 78

1.5 7

80

.5 8

8

.5 8

4 7

4.5

5

5.5

6

Table 1 simple distillation Table fractional distillation

Experimental

Place 15 mL of a mixture of 0%ethanol-water in a 5 mL round-bottomed flask. Add two or three boiling stones to make boiling smooth. Use a 10ml graduated cylinder as the receiver. Pay particular attention to the thermometer bulb placement. Heat the mixture with a heating plate. Let some water go through the condenser slowly, it helps to cool down the vapor. For water, the maximum setting may be needed initially. Watch the ¡¥pot¡¦ to see that it does not boil so vigorously that liquid runs over the top. When the mixture begins to boil and the vapor reaches the thermometer, regulate the heat so that the distillation continues steadily. Record the temperature and total volume every .5 mL. After done for the simple distillation, put the distillate back into the round-bottom flask for fractional distillation. It is best not to do this experiment in the hood, because the draft cools the column. Also be sure that your fractionating column is packed loosely with steel wool. Repeat the steps of above for fractional distillation. When distilling the solution, be careful with the hot plate because it is very hot. Also, for the data, plot the distillation data (V vs. T) using excel. Plot temperature on the y axis and volume on the x axis.

References

Chemistry 6A and 6B Laboratory Methods of Organic Chemistry P.14

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