Simple and Fractional Distillation

Authors: ABESAMIS, Maria Feliza, ACOSTA, Marie Em Clarisse, AGUSTIN, Francheska,

AQUITANIA, Mary Christelle, BAGSICAN, Marilu Jane

Abstract
Distillation is the extraction of volatile component of a mixture through a two way
process, evaporation and condensation. Volatility is the tendency of a substance to
vaporize easily. In distillation, when a substance is heated, i.e., ethanol and water, the
more volatile substance vaporized first. The result is the separation of two or more
substances.
The experiment is divided into two parts, Simple and fractional distillation. Simple
distillation is an easy set-up where a solution or a mixture of substances with different
volatility is separated through exposure heat. Evaporation takes place, changing liquid to
gas. Vapors form and pass through a condenser wherein it changes its form from gas to
liquid. The collected vapor is the distillate of the experiment. Residue is the remains in
the set-up that didn’t pass through the process of evaporation and condensation. On the
other hand, fractional distillation under go series of evaporation and condensation
process to purify more complex mixtures. It is more efficient in terms of
decontamination or separation of substances.

I. Introduction
Distillation is the process of purifying compounds by means of separating
more volatile substance from non-volatile or less volatile substance. There are two
principles that lie in the experiment, Raoult Law and Dalton Law. Raoult Law
connotes that the vapor pressure of a solution equals the product of the vapor
pressure of the pure solvent and the mole fraction of solvent. While Dalton Law,
which is also known as law of partial pressure, implies that the pressure of a gas
mixture is equal to the sum of the partial pressures of the gases composing it.

In this experiment, the group should be able to attain the following

objective: (1) to be able to separate the alcohol content of the alcoholic beverage,
and (2) calculate for its percentage ethanol present. Lastly, (3) calculate for the
efficiency of simple distillation and fractional distillation.

II. Experimental
The group required a micro distillation set-up to exhibit simple distillation
and to examine the presence of ethanol in the alcoholic beverage. The set-up
should be prepared and tightly secured. Clamps and iron stand held for the body
of set-up, while aluminum foil covered the openings in the connection of each
apparatus to prevent vapour loss in the actual experiment. Then, water inlet is
turned on. Presence of boiling chips must be checked to avert bumping. When the
set-up is fixed, through the use of alcohol lamp, the flask should be heated
 moderately. The data was first recorded when the distillate first dropped. 5-ml
distillate is collected for each test tube. Then, data is graphed and analyzed.

Sequence of Simple Distillation Apparatus from the source of sample: Pear-shaped

flask, Still head with thermometer, Leibig condenser, received adapter and the
distillate receiver (test tube for this experiment)

III. Result and Discussion

Table 1.0
Test Tube Volume (ml) Temperature (°C) Flame Test
1 0.00 ml 25.0 °C
1 0.50 ml 70.0 °C +
2 1.00 ml 72.0 °C
3 1.50 ml 73.0 °C
4 2.00 ml 73.0 °C
5 2.50 ml 73.0 °C
6 3.00 ml 75.0 °C
7 3.50 ml 76.0 °C
8 4.00 ml 78.0 °C
9 4.50 ml 79.0 °C
10 5.00 ml 80.0 °C
11 5.50 ml 82.0 °C
12 6.00 ml 84.0 °C
13 6.50 ml 86.0 °C
14 7.00 ml 86.5 °C
15 7.50 ml 88.0 °C
16 8.00 ml 90.0 °C
17 8.50 ml 92.0 °C
18 9.00 ml 94.0 °C
19 9.50ml 96.0 °C
20 10.00 ml 96.0 °C -
Calculations:
 The table shows an increase in temperature for 0.50 ml of collected vapour, When
the temperature become constant and eminent a constant slope in the graph, it
confirms the presence of ethanol in the sample wherein it is most concentrated. In
the flame test, there is presence of alcohol when it produces a flame. The alcohol
beverage in the experiment shows a blue flame. When there is no flame produced,
ethanol is not present in the sample test tube.

The graph shows the relationship of temperature to the volume of vapour

collected from the sample. The highlighted part indicates where the concentration
of alcohol is strongest. However, the calculations contradict the graph and errors
might have been occurred during the experiment.

Listed below are the following possible sources of error:

1. Parallex reading of temperature
2. 5ml calibration is not accurate and precise during the experiment
3. Few drops of distillate were missed while replacing new test tube for the
distillate were not accounted
4. Accurate measurement of residue was skipped, resulting to 0% error
5. Distillate might have vaporize during the experiment before it was tested to
flammability test
6. Not all test tubes were tested for flammability test
7. Flammability test and the graph did not match

Due to these possible sources of errors, the results didn’t match.

IV. Reference

Books:
Winkle, M. v. (1967). Chapter 9 – Mass Transfer Processes. In M. v. Cinkle,
Distillation. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Articles: (Heath, 2003)

Heath, K. (2003). Laboratory Chemistry – Organic Techniques.Birmingham, United
Kindom: Cirriculum Press.

Websites:
Answers.com. (n.d.) Retrieve July 11, 2009, from
http://www.answers.com/topic/distillation
Scribd.com. (n.d.) Retrieve July 11, 2009, from
www.scribd.com/doc/6602463/DKE202ch9