Experiment I.

Simple and Fractional Distillation

Marquez, Ma. Gerlee; Medina, Martha Louise Aurora;

Mercado, Janella Maika; Ng, Jameel; Osmond, Rachel Ann
Group 7 2E- Medical Technology Organic Chemistry Laboratory

ABSTRACT

The group performed simple distillation, a process of separation by which difference in volatility is used, using vodka
as the sample to be distilled. Vodka was placed in the pear-shaped flask and was heated by an alcohol lamp, with the
temperature being heavily monitored. The temperature is also recorded at every 0.5mL of distillate we collected, and
the group managed to collect 18 test tubes with 0.5mL distillate before reaching 100 oC. They then conducted a
flammability test, a test performed to find out the component of the particular distillate whether it is flammable or
not, with the first and last distillates. The first one evaporated, thus making the group conclude that ethanol, a volatile
substance, was its main component and the second one (the last distillate), however, did not react, it remained as it
is and extinguished the flame, thus making the group conclude that its main component is H2O (water).

INTRODUCTION simple and fractional distillation ;(2) to be able to

Distillation is the process of heating a liquid
until its more volatile constituents pass into the
vapor phase, and then cooling the vapor to
recover such constituents in liquid form by
condensation. The main purpose of distillation is
to separate a mixture of several components by
taking advantage of their different volatilities, or
the separation of volatile materials from
nonvolatile materials. The principal object of the
operation is to obtain the more volatile
constituent in pure form.
The principles governing the distillation process
are the Raoult’s law and the Dalton’s law.
Raoult’s law – the law of vapor pressure- is the
principle that states that the vapor pressure in a
solution is the sum of the vapor pressure of each
component multiplied by the ratio of molecules
mole fraction of that component. Consequently,
Dalton’s law – the principle of gas pressure-
states that mixed gases in a given volume exert
a pressure equal to the sum of the pressures
they would exert individually in the same volume.
If the difference in volatility and in boiling point
between the two constituents is great, complete
separation may be easily accomplished by simple
distillation.
On the other hand, if the boiling points of the
constituents of a mixture differ only slightly,
complete separation cannot be achieved in a
simple distillation. An important example is the
separation of water, which boils at 100° C, and
alcohol, which boils at 78.5° C. If a mixture of
these two liquids is boiled, the vapor that rises is
richer in alcohol and poorer in water than the
liquid from which it came, but it is not pure
alcohol. A more efficient type of distillation for
this kind of mixture is the fractional distillation.
For this experiment, the group should be able
to achieve the following objectives: (1) to be able
to distinguish and compare as to efficiency the
successfully separate the components of the
vodka sample using the quick-fit set-up; (3) to
be able to identify what constituents are in the
first and last distillate through the flammability
test; (4) to be able to calculate for the
percentage of ethanol present in the vodka and;
(5) to be able to compute for the percentage
loss.
EXPERIMENTAL
A. Sample Used
A 15ml sample of bottled Anilov vodka was
distilled through Simple Distillation.
B. Procedure for the Simple
Distillation
A micro-scale quickfit simple distillation set up
was prepared. It was used to examine the
presence and amount of ethanol in the sample
vodka.
First, the group assembled the simple
distillation setup which comprised of the sample
vodka and boiling stones placed inside the pear-
shaped flask, iron stands and iron clamps, a
thermometer with a rubber stopper placed on top
of the flask, a condenser with the two rubber
tubings for the water inlet and outlet, the
adaptor, the receiving flask which is the test
tube, and the alcohol lamp. When the set up was
complete, the group heated the vodka in the
flask using the alcohol lamp. After a few minutes,
the liquid began to boil in which vapor rose and
passed through the condenser and in turn,
became droplets, the distillate, and slowly
dropped into the test tube. There were twenty
test tubes marked to 0.5 mL. In a test tube, the
droplets must reach the 0.5 mL mark and then it
was replaced by a new one up to the 20th test
tube or until 99 – 100 degrees Celsius is reached.
A person recorded the temperature for each test would identify the components of the first and
tube when filled to the 0.5mL mark including the last 0.5 mL distillate.
temperature of the first drop of distillate. Lastly,
the data collected was graphed and analyzed.
Table 1. Temperature of Every 0.5ml Distillate
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION and Result of the Flammability test.
The micro-scale simple distillation setup was
consisted of boiling stones placed inside the pear- Test Volume Temperature Flame
shaped flask to reduce and control the air Tube (ml) (°C) Test
bubbles produced when heating the vodka. The 1 1st drop 78 °C
iron stands and iron clamps served as mechanical 1 0.50 ml 80 °C +
2 1.00 ml 81 °C
support for the flask and condenser. Placed on
3 1.50 ml 82 °C
the top of the pear-shaped flask, where the
4 2.00 ml 82 °C
vodka was placed, was a thermometer for the
5 2.50 ml 83 °C
recording of temperature. A rubber stopper was 6 3.00 ml 84 °C
used to seal the thermometer to the flask so that 7 3.50 ml 84 °C
no vapor can escape and results would not be 8 4.00 ml 84.5 °C
altered. The bulb of the thermometer should be 9 4.50 ml 85.5 °C
aligned to the side arm of the flask called the 10 5.00 ml 87 °C
distilling head in which the condenser was 11 5.50 ml 88 °C
connected to so that it will record the right 12 6.00 ml 90 °C
temperature of the vapor because if it is too close 13 6.50 ml 92 °C
to the vodka sample, the temperature recorded 14 7.00 ml 94 °C
would be erroneous for it will be too high. A 15 7.50 ml 96 °C
condenser was used to convert the vapor coming 16 8.00 ml 97 °C
from the vodka to liquid droplets. The 17 8.50 ml 98 °C
condensation process was done with the aid of 18 9.00 ml 99 °C -
the water coming from the water inlet and exits
through the water outlet. This cools and converts The Table 1 shows that the temperature at the
the vapor to liquid as it passes through the first drop was 78 °C which indicated the boiling
condenser. The adaptor connected to the tip of point of ethanol as it is the more volatile
the condenser was used to direct the distillate component of the Vodka sample. The
into the receiving flask which in this case was a temperature of the first distillate which was 80°C
centrifuge test tube. Tape was wrapped around increased to about 1°C for every 0.5 mL or until
the openings between the condenser and the the 9th test tube. The temperature continued to
flask and also in between the adaptor and the tip increase until 99°C was reached and the heating
of the condenser to avoid the escape of vapor was stopped. The total distillate accumulated was
and distillate that will invalidate the results. The equal to 9.00 mL.
source of heat for the distillation process was the Because ethanol boiled at 78°C and water boils
alcohol lamp. at 100°C, this means that ethanol molecules
After a few minutes of heating, the vodka would leave the solution as a vapor that was
sample boiled and it evaporated to vapor, passed condensed as pure ethanol. However, in a
through the condenser, and became liquid again mixture of ethanol and water, the water begins to
through the process of condensation. Heating of boil and vaporize at about 87°C, making the
the vodka was immediately stopped after filling collected distillate as not pure or 100% ethanol.
the 18th test tube because the 99 degrees Celsius A mixture of liquids of a certain definite
was obtained. The reasons for stopping the composition that distils at a constant
heating process was that the boiling point of temperature without a change in composition is
water is 100 degrees Celsius resulting to a called an azeotrope. In the experiment, having
distillate with only water as its component and constant pressure in different volumes, the
also the pear-shaped flask might break because liquid’s volume ranges from 1.00 ml to 2.50 ml
it cannot handle the heat. exhibits it being an azeotrope. The percentage of
The temperature of the first drop of distillate ethanol in the mixture was computed. 10% of it
indicated the boiling point of the ethanol which is is ethanol and 90% is water, which was identified
more volatile than the water component. in the flame test. Therefore, 10% ethanol and
A Flammability test was conducted on both the 90% of water is considered to be an azeotrope.
first and the last 0.5 mL distillate to test whether
it is flammable or not. The Flammability test

Figure 1. Relationship of the distillate (mL) to its
corresponding temperature (oC).
Figure 1 showed the relationship of
temperature to the volume of the distillate
collected. It showed that the temperatures
between 1.00 mL to 2.50 mL of the distillate are
somehow the same and of slight difference to
one another. When the temperature becomes
nearly constant and shows a constant slope in
the graph, it confirmed that that was the time
when the ethanol was most concentrated.
In the flame test, the 1st 0.50ml did not ignite
or produce flame, but instead it evaporated. The
first 0.5mL distillate should have had blue flame
but because the group was not able to heat the
distillate right after it was collected the result was
not what it should have been. Consequently, the
last 0.50ml of the distillate extinguished the
flame, ethanol is not present therefore concluding
that its main component is water.
Calculations:
The % Ethanol is equal to the initial volume
subtracted from the final volume all over the total
volume of the sample, multiplied by 100. The
group's final volume is 2.50mL and the initial
volume is 1.00mL. This was the time when
ethanol is highly concentrated. This was shown
on the highlighted portion of the Figure 1. The
difference was divided by the total volume which
is 15mL. To get the percentage, the group
multiplied it by 100, thus getting the result of
10%. Therefore, the group found out that the
vodka sample was 10% ethanol.
% Loss was computed to determine the
percentage of the distillate lost during the
process. The total volume of the sample which is
15mL is being subtracted by the sum of the
Volume of the distillate and residue and all
divided by 15mL (volume of sample) multiplied
by 100. This resulted to 5.33%, therefore, 5.33%
of the sample got lost during the process of
distillation.
When a multi-component liquid is heated, the
vapor pressure of each component will rise, thus
causing the total vapor pressure to rise. When
the total vapor pressure reaches the pressure
surrounding the liquid, boiling occurs and liquid
turns to gas throughout the bulk of the liquid.
Note that a mixture with a given composition has
one boiling point at a given pressure, when the
components are mutually soluble. In other cases,
severe deviations from Raoult's law and Dalton's
law are observed, most famously in the mixture
of ethanol and water. These compounds, when
heated together, form an azeotrope, which is a
composition with a boiling point higher or lower
than the boiling point of each separate liquid. In
this case, it boils at a temperature lower than
each of the component. That is why, in the
experiment performed, water boiled at 87oC aside
from its normal boiling point which is 100oC.
From that onwards the distillate collected is not
pure ethanol. That is why in any distillation, even
if you have 99% concentration of alcohol, you
can only obtain less than 99%. Almost all liquids,
when mixed and heated, will express an
azeotropic behavior.
The experiment conducted did not give the
best results but instead some errors altered some
of the results. Possible errors were parallax error
in reading the temperature, ion marking the test
tubes and in measuring the sample and residue.
Few drops of the distillate were not accounted
when replacing the last test tube for a new one.
The first distillate evaporated because we did not
immediately flame it.
REFERENCES
[1] Williamson, K., Minard, R., & Masters, K.
(2007). Macroscale And Microscale Organic
Experiments. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.
[2] Lehamn, J.W. (2010). Multiscale Operational
Organic Chemistry. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice
Hall.