Distillation- Gas Chromatography Investigations - Lab Report Example

In the case where there are two compounds with a vast different vapor and pressures, then the two compounds can be separating through the technique referred to as simple distillation. In this case, simple distillation involves warming a mixture so that the liquid with higher volatility vaporizes first. The vapor of this liquid substance is then collected in a separate flask for purposes of being condensed back into liquid. However, for mixtures of compounds having same boiling points, a simple distillation would be performed multiple times or a fractional distillation would be applied over its length.

In essence, fractional distillation is often used in separating mixtures of liquids that have a boiling point that are quite close to each other. Fractional distillation constitutes a long glass tube often packed with either ceramic or glass material allowing the vapor to vaporize and condense a number of times in the course of traveling up the column. Moreover, the condenser (fractionating column) is packed with these materials purposely to help increase its surface area. This is based on the principle that whenever a solution gets distilled in fractions, it goes through various re-distillations that help increase the purity of the product at the end of the tunnel.

As liquid gets heated, vapor starts rising. These vapors condense when they come into contact with the fractioning column cooler surfaces. Continued heating of the distillation liquid leads to the increase in the rise of the vapors. The condensed vapors within the fractioning column re-vaporize hence moving up the column. Repeating this process several times causes components with the lowest boiling point to reach the top of the fractionating column first, which is the collected in the collection vial.

Other components are collected following their ascending order of their boiling points. This process is applicable in the fractional separation of mixtures having multiple liquids. For instance, crude oil is often separated in towers which are one hundred and fifty feet high. In this respect, more than 100 different components get separated from two thousand barrels of crude oil each day. Equipment or Materials In this experiment, the set of apparatus included 3 glass vials, Crystallizing Dish, Ice Steel wool, Microscale kit, Boiling chips, Hot plate, 100-mL beaker, Mixture of organic liquids, and Digital thermometer.

Procedure In this experimental the set up was carried out in a hood. To start with the distillation, apparatus for this experiment was set up. Using scintillation vials or a 10 mL graduated cylinder, the distillates were collected. 10ml of ethyl acetate, and 10mL isoamyl acetate were obtained and transferred to the 50 mL round-bottom flask. Then the stirring bar was added to the flask with the stirring function being activated during the process of distillation. The stirring bar acted as a boiling stone and was added to help prevent bumping.

The warming of the flask was done making sure the distillate starts being collected in the graduated cylinder. At this instance, the temperature of the vapor when the first drop of the distillate started being collected in the cylinder was recorded. This was done making sure the thermometer was well positioned. The plate was adjusted in making sure the collection rate of the distillate was approximately 1 drop per second. The temperature was recorded after each mL of the distillate