Objective:

1. To obtain experimental measurement of VLE for ethanol/water system.

2. To evaluate the quality of experimental data by employing a thermodynamic consistency
test.
3. To obtain the experimental binary parameters for a simplified thermodynamics model.

Introduction

Vapor-liquid equilibrium or called as VLE in thermodynamics defines as the distribution

of chemical species between gas phase and liquid phase. The main purpose for conducting this
binary VLE experiment is to collect the experimental binary parameter for a simplified
thermodynamics model. This vapor-liquid equilibrium unit is suitable for for investigating the
relationship between the vapor and liquid at equilibrium state of 1 atm which is atmospheric
pressure. By using the data collected from the experiment, equilibrium graph called liquid and
vapor composition curve or x-y diagram of a binary liquid mixture can be generated. The
concentration of vapor in contact with its liquid, especially at equilibrium, if often expresses in
terms of vapor pressure. The equilibrium vapor pressure of a liquid is strongly dependent on the
temperature in this experiment. The data relating the vapor pressure of any component to its
mole fraction in solution is corrected to generate plot P1 /x1 versus x1 .The VLE concentration data
can be determined experimentally or approximated by using theories like Raoults Law and
Henrys Law.

Raoults Law is the suitable way to estimate VLE if the solution is ideal, so it will be not
very accurate for some of the mixtures as we assume the mixture is ideal (Jim.C, 2004). The
Raoults Law equation is given as below:

yAP =xA PA (T)

yAP = PA is the partial pressure or driving force in the vapor phase whereas the xA PA (T)
is the driving force in liquid phase.
 Henrys Law is the theory that comes in when the solution is non-ideal which means
when Raoults Law cannot be applied. For non-ideal solution, the Henrys Law is state below:

p*=Hx

Henrys Law is often used to represent equilibrium solubility curves.

Based on Henrys Law, it is only can apply in a modest liquid concentration
range, especially when the solution is dilute (SANDER, R, 2015)

The VLE information that calculated by using theories above is very useful in designing
columns for distillation such as fractional distillation. The function of distillation is to separate or
partially separate components in a mixture by vaporization and then followed by condensation. It
is very sufficient in differences in concentration of components in the liquid and vapor phases.

Reference

Sander, R.(2015) "Compilation Of Henry's Law Constants (Version 4.0) For Water As Solvent".
N.p., 2017. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.

Jim.C (2004)"Raoult's Law And Non-Volatile Solutes". Chemguide.co.uk. N.p., 2017. Web. 19
Mar. 2017.