DISCUSSION

Liquid/liquid extraction is perform basically to seperate and purify the desired product. It is usually the initial steps of purification processes. The significant of this experiment is to determine the distribution coefficient and the mass transfer coefficient.

In liquid/liquid extraction, there are two important aspect that needs to be considered. First is error due to the volume change. The volume of the two individual solvent after reaching equilibrium may or may not be the same as their volume at the initial stage. Second is the effectiveness of an extraction.

There are a few factors that determining the effectiveness of the extraction. They are temperature and inert solutes, pH, ion-formation and effect of synergistic extraction. Therefore, in order to get higher percentage of extraction, these factors need to be taken into consideration.

Emulsion in liquid/liquid extraction must be avoided. This is because, it will lead to a poor seperation processes. Emulsion is a process whereby two immiscible component is made miscible. Hence, in the liquid/liquid extraction, the two component need to avoid emulsion as they need to stay immiscible so that the extraction process would be more efficient. Despite that, if emulsion still occurs, there are severals ways to destroy them. The first way is time. Over time, the layer will seperate. Another method is to add brine or salt water to the mixture.

During conducting the experiment part B, when preparing the mixture of organic solvent along with deionised water and propionic acid, the mixture is shook. This is because the desired substance is more soluble in the immiscible solvent compared to water. Therefore, by shaking it, it can increase the rate the substance dissolve in the solventas well as the surface area between phases. Since the solvent is immiscible with water, it formed two layers. Where the upper layer indicates the extract phase, and the bottom layer indicates the raffinate phase. At the extract, more propionic acid content that in raffinate. This is shown through the results obtained as it shows that the concentration of propionic acid is higher at extract phase rather than in raffinate phase.

In the raffinate stage, the traces of propionic acidis due to the reason that the extraction is not 100 percent extracted. In one stage of extraction, not all the desired component can be extracted. It needs several stages to achieve towards complete seperation. It is said that, many small volume extractions are better that one large volume extraction unit. This is because one large extraction unit

yield smaller extraction efficiency compared to many small volume extractions unit.

Mass transfer coefficient, is a measure to describe complex boundary condition involving flow and diffusion. It is a diffusion rate constant that relates to mass transfer rate, mass transfer area, and concentration gradient as driving force.

Figur e 1: Mass transf er from a surfac e to a fluid.

From the data obtained, the mass transfer coefficient for 0.1M NaOH is 0.2277 kg/min. Wheareas, the mass transfer coefficient for 0.025M is undefined.

Distribution coefficient is a quantitative measure of how an organic compound is distributed between aqueous and organic phases. In other word, it is a thermodynamic measure of hydrophilicty-lipophilicity balance of a compound. Distribution coefficient is very significant in drug industry.

K = solubility of organic (g/100mL) solubility of water (g/100mL)

At equilibrium, the molecules naturally distribute themselves in the solvent where they are more soluble. Inorganic and water soluble materials will stay in the water layer, and more organic molecules wil reamin in the organic layer. By using a correct solvent, a molecule can be specifically selected and extracted from another solvent. Unless K is very large, not all solute will reside in an organic layer in a single extraction.

Distribution coefficient, or known as partition coeeficient has limitation. Firstly, it is not thermodynamically rigorous. It means that, it is only applicable to very dilute solution. Secondly is that it does not hold good when the distributing substances encounter association or distribution in either phases.

From the data obtained, the distribution coefficient when titrated with 0.1M of NaOH is 1.96 for 5mL of propionic acid, 1.70 for 3mL of propionic acid and 0.86 for 1mL of propionic acid. Meanwhile, when titrated with 0.025M of NaOH, the results obained is, 1.59 for 5mL of propionic acid, 5.67 for 3mL of propionic acid and 2.00 for 1mL of propionic acid. For 0.1M of NaOH, the data shows that, as volume of propionic acid increases, the distribution coefficient decreases. Whereas, for 0.025M of NaOH, the results shows that there is fluctuation in the distribution coefficient (K) value. Supposedly, when volume increases, the K values decreases. The error may due to titration done where for the titration with concentration of 0.025M, some of the titration is done with the aid of magnetic stirrer and some is done without magnetic stirrer where the flask is swirl. The difference in the method used may contribute to the error in the data obtained.

CONCLUSION

From the experiments conducted, it is found that, a better understanding is achieved regarding mass transfer coefficient and distribution coefficient. From the data obtained, the distribution coefficient when titrated with 0.1M of NaOH is 1.96 for 5mL of propionic acid, 1.70 for 3mL of propionic acid and 0.86 for 1mL of propionic acid. Meanwhile, when titrated with 0.025M of NaOH, the results obained is, 1.59 for 5mL of propionic acid, 5.67 for 3mL of propionic acid and 2.00 for 1mL of propionic acid. As stated earlier, as the volume of propionic acid increases, the distribution coefficient decreases.

On the other hand, the mass transfer coefficient for 0.1M NaOH is 0.2277 kg/min. Wheareas, the mass transfer coefficient for 0.025M is undefined. We can conclude that, the difference in concentration of propionic acid causes the mass transfer coefficient to vary.