Determining The Percent Ethanol from Gin (Ginebra) by Fractional Distillation

Recabo, P., Rendon, M., Sagun, M., Songcuya, M., Suarez, D.J., Tan, A. 2B-PH,
Group 7., Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santo Tomas, Espaa
Boulevard, 1015 Manila, Philippines
ABSTRACT
Distillation is a mixture of liquids with sufficiently different boiling points that can often be
separated into its components. The main principles involved in this process are evaporation and
condensation. There were two types of Distillation Methods introduced to the class namely,
Simple Distillation and Fractional Distillation. However, Fractional Distillation was the task
assigned to the group. The groups objective is to distill ethyl alcohol or ethanol from Ginebra
Gin. The group calibrated 14 test tubes to .5ml and were numbered. 15ml of Ginebra Gin was
placed on the distillation set-up and was heated constantly using an alcohol lamp in a rotating
manner. The distillates were collected in the calibrated test tubes and the temperatures were
recorded. Flammability tests were applied for the first distillate and the last distillate. By the end
of the experiment, 7ml was collected with 46.67% of computed ethanol content.
INTRODUCTION
Distillation is the recovery of valuable components
from a liquid mixture by vaporization and
condensation. A mixture of liquids with sufficiently
different boiling points can often be separated into
components by distillation. (2) There are two frequently
used methods for distillation: Simple Distillation is
frequently used in the organic chemistry labs and is use
when the liquid is contaminated by a liquid with a
boiling point that differs by at least 70C and when an
essentially pure material is separated from a nonvolatile or from a solid contaminant. (3) Fractional
Distillation is based on the establishment of a large
number of theoretical vaporization-condensation cycles
and is commonly used if the combined liquids to be
distilled have a close boiling point range. (4) Distillation
separates the basic components of fractions of a
mixture by their individual boiling points. During the
distillation process, a mixture is heated until it vaporizes
and condensed.

The condensed liquid is referred to as the

distillate; the liquid that does not vaporize in a column is
called the residue. (5) Any volatile substances
dissolved in the liquid do not boil, but remain
in the distilling flask.
In this experiment, the group should be
able to achieve the following objectives: (1) To
separate the components of the gin using
fractional distillation, (2) To calculate the
percent ethanol in the Ginebra Gin.

METHODOLOGY
Materials
The apparatus used by the group are
fractionating column, still head, condenser,
boiling chips, pear-shaped flask that contains
the boiling chips, thermometer, alcohol lamp,
and the calibrated test tubes that will serve as
the container for the distillates. The reagent
used is the Ginebra Gin.
Procedure
14 test tubes were calibrated to .5 mL and each
of them were numbered. The distillation
apparatus were then set up by the group similar
to as seen in Figure 1. Then, 15 mL of Gin was
put to the flask. It was then heated using an
alcohol lamp in a rotating manner. The initial
Figure 1: Fractional Distillation
Set-up
temperature recorded by the group was 29 C.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The distillate was then collected to the
calibrated test tubes. The temperature of the
The temperature of every 0.5 mL distillate was
first drop of each distillate of each tube was
recorded and shown in Table 1
recorded. Heating stopped at 94 C.
Test Tube #
Volume
Temperature
Flammability
tests were
also conducted were
the 1first and the
.5 last test
73 tube were each placed
in an
2 evaporating
1 dish
74 and were lighted with
matches.
Thorough
was
3
1.5
74 observation
conducted.
4
2
76
Formulas were used to solve and to get the %
5
2.5
76
alcohol
and %loss
Table 1: Temp. ( reading per 0.5 mL of
6
3
78
7
3.5
78
distillate.
Volume
of78
distillate
8
4
Alcohol=
100
Volume
of78sample
9
4.5
10
11
12
13

5
5.5
6
6.5

82
90
92
94

14

94

Loss=

Vol. of Sample(Vol. of Distillate + Remaining Vol.)

100
Volume of Sample

The result shows that the first distillate

produced a blue flame while the last distillate
did not even produced flame.
The percent alcohol and percent loss can then
be computed using these formulas:

Distillate Collected
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
Temperature (C) 50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Alcohol=

Loss=

Volume of distillate
100
Volume of sample

Vol. of Sample(Vol. of Distillate + Remaining Vol.)

Volume of Sample

Then,
Alcohol=

7 mL
100
15 mL

Alcohol=46.67

Loss=

15 mL(7 mL+ 4.5 mL)

100
15 mL

Volume (mL)

Loss=23.33

In Table 1 and Graph 1, a portion of the result

has temperature that stopped from rising and is

constant as showcased by the straight lines in

the chart. The straight line is called azeotrope.
An azeotrope is a liquid mixture with an
equilibrium vapor of the same composition as
the liquid. The azeotrope are called constant
boiling mixtures as the liquid and vapor
compositions are the same, the boiling point of
the liquid mixture remains constant as vapor is
generated (6).

REFERENCES

Graph 1: Plot of Temperature (oC) against

volume (mL) of distillate.

Graph 1 shows the relationship of

temperature and volume of distillate. It shows
that as the volume of distillate collected
increases, the temperature also increases.
Table 2 shows the result of the flammability
test of the first distillate test tube and the last
distillate test tube.
Table 2: Flammability Test

Distillate
First
Distillate
Last
Distillate

Flame Test
Positive

Color
of
Flame
Blue

Negative

NA

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Stanley (2010). Chemistry (9th Edition).
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G.S. (2005). Introduction to Organic
Chemistry techniques: A small-scale
approach (2nd Ed). Pacific Groove, CA.
Thomson Brooks/ Cole
4. Seader, J. D., and Henley, Ernest J.
(1998). Separation Process Principles.
New York: Wiley
5. Parashan, N. (2006). Mass Transfer II
(4th Edition). India: Rachana Enterpises.
6. http://swc2.hccs.edu/pahlavan/2423L7.
pdf date accessed: July 25, 2011
7. http://www.scribd.com/doc/6602463/D
KE202ch9 Date Accessed: July 28,
2011

The flammability test shows that the first

distillate was primarily composed of the
alcohol content as it produced a flame while
the last distillate is composed primarily of
water as it did not produced flame.
It is shown in the computation that the percent
alcohol in Ginebra Gin sample is 46.67% while
the percent loss is 23.33%.