Anticipated Results:

In this lab a binary system of methanol and water will be separated via batch distillation. Binary

distillation works based on the principles of boiling point and vapor pressure. Because the two

components in our system have different boiling points (methanol has a boiling point of 65

degrees Celsius and water has a boiling point of 100 degrees Celsius) they can be separated from

one another by heating the mixture above the boiling point of the methanol but much below that

of the water. At that set temperature the methanol will produce a high vapor pressure and the

water will produce a much lower vapor pressure. The vapor moving up the distillation column

will be rich in methanol because of the high vapor pressure.

This distillation system consists of several trays that will allow the vapor coming from the pot to

condense and re-vaporize several times as it travels up the column. This is known as fractional

distillation and is required to achieve high separation if the two components have a difference in

boiling points less than 40-50 degrees Celsius. (Gilbert and Martin, 137) Since methanol and

water have a difference in boiling point of only 35 degrees Celsius fractional distillation is

required. This series of condensation and vaporization cycles will allow the vapor to become

richer in methanol. Samples of both vapor and liquid will be drawn from each stage and using a

refractometer its refraction will be measure and compared with a prepared calibration curve. This

will allow for the mole fraction of each component in the sample to be accurately measured.

Since methanol is the more volatile component it will be the major component in the vapor

coming of the pot. After each condensation and vaporization cycle the mole fraction of methanol

in the vapor will increase. This means that higher stages in the distillation column should

sequentially produce samples with increasing mole percent of methanol in both the vapor and
liquid samples. When comparing both phases in one single stage the vapor should have a higher

concentration of methanol than the liquid sample because the water vapor has a higher affinity to

condense on to the tray than the methanol vapor.

The temperatures of each stage will also be measured during this experiment. Heat is supplied to

the distillation pot at the bottom of the system. There will be a heat gradient moving from high

temperature at the bottom of the column to temperatures approaching room temperature at the

top of the system. Therefore, higher stages will yield lower temperatures.

For this experiment the distillation column will be run at total reflux. Total reflux is a limiting

condition in which all distillated is returned to the column as reflux and all of the bottoms is

returned to the column as boilup. (Wankat, 130) Running a system at total reflux produces the

best possible separation for that given number of stages.

The efficiencies of the system can be measured using the “overall efficiency.” The overall

efficiency is a ratio of the number of equilibrium stages needed to produce a specified separation

over the number of actual stages required to reach that specified separation. (Wankat, 133)

Because this column will be operating at total reflux the overall efficiency should be very close

to one because these conditions will produce the highest separation with the fewest number of

stages required.

References:

Gilbert, John C., and Stephen F. Martin. Experimental organic chemistry:

a miniscale & microscale approach . 4th. BrooksCole Pub Co, 2006. 137.

Print.
Wankat, Phillip C. Separation process engineering. 2nd. Boston :

Prentice-Hall PTR, 2007. 130,-133. Print.