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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
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
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
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:
a miniscale & microscale approach . 4th. BrooksCole Pub Co, 2006. 137.
Print.
Wankat, Phillip C. Separation process engineering. 2nd. Boston :