ABSTRACT

The goal of this experiment is to construct a simple boiling point composition diagram
wherein the quality of states in which the binary mixture exists at a particular temperature.
This was conducted via distillation of glacial acetic acid and water which produces our
needed mixture. The type of distillation done was a simple distillation because of the
materials’ easy separation from other organics. As seen from our experimental data, it has
been observed that an increase of temperature yields the higher the percent mole of the less
volatile liquid, acetic acid, gets and vice versa. It is also observed that to reach the point
wherein the solution is in liquid phase, higher heat energy or boiling point temperature is
needed and that at lower boiling point temperature, the system is majorly composed of the
more volatile liquid, water.

INTRODUCTION

Mixtures that obey Raoult's Law can be described as an ideal mixture. Raoult’s law states
that the partial vapor pressure of each element of a mixture of liquids is equal to the vapor
pressure of the pure component multiplied by its mole fraction in the mixture. It is presumed
wherein that the mixture behaves ideally according to the rules of Raoult’s law. In a solution
with a nonvolatile solute, only the pure vapor of the solvent is present above the solution.
100% of the nonvolatile solute stays in solution, none of it enters the vapor above the
solution. The intermolecular attractions between the molecules of the two liquids must be
similar if the mixture is to be ideal. Mathematically, Raoult's law for a single component in
an ideal solution is stated as:

Pi=Pi*Xi

where Pi is the partial vapor pressure of the element of the solution i in the gaseous mixture,
Pi* is the vapor pressure of the pure component i, and Xi is the mole fraction of the element i
in the in the solution involving 2 elements. This formula can be adapted to each of the
components of the binary mixture. Form Raoult’s law, we can also solve the total pressure of
the gaseous mixture via this equation:

Total vapor pressure= Pa + Pb

In which the law states that the partial pressures of each component in a binary mixture is
only the summations of the pressures of the two elements.
Another equation that can be useful is the mole fraction equation:

Xa=(#moles of a)/(total number of moles)

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Since the experiment deals with binary systems, Raoult’s law has been utilized so that the
composition of the distillates can be determined. As such, we have assumed that the distillate
has been distilled at ideal conditions so as to fulfil the law. For a solution of two liquids, A
and B, Raoult's law predicts that if no other gases are present, then the total vapor
pressure above the solution is equal to the weighted sum of the "pure" vapor pressures of the
two components. This correlation can be expressed by the equation:

PROCEDURE

Firstly, we prepared a simple distillation setup for the experiment, then we prepared the
required reagents for the experiment. We have pipet 1 ml of the mixture into each of two 125-
ml Erlenmeyer flask and label both flasks L-1 to make two trials. Now we transfer these
solutions seperately to the distillation flask to be distilled. As we slowly distill the mixture
collecting the distillate in a clean, dry 10-ml graduated cylinder. Read and record the
temperature when 3-ml of the distillate has been collected. Stop the distillation when 6-ml of
the distillate has been collected. Then, we pipet 1-ml of the solution remaining in the
distilling flask into each of the Erlenmeyer flasks previously labelled L-1. After that, pipet 2-
ml of the distillate from earlier into each of the two Erlenmeyer flasks and label both flasks
V-1. Add 5-ml of distilled water to the remaining solution in the distilling flask. Distill over
1-2 ml to wash out the condenser. Now repeat the last two procedures until using 10, 20, and
30 ml of distilled water labelling the flasks L-3 and V-3, L-4 and V-4, and L-5 and V-5,
respectively. After that, we have titrated the solutions with 1 m NAOH using phenolphthalein
solution. Now we recorded the data resulted.
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS

Table 1 describes that the higher the boiling point of the liquid solution is, the higher the
amount of the other solution which will be needed to identify the amount of the acetic acid I,
as it follows a semi- linear trend when the data is plotted along a graph. It can be observed
while acetic acid has a lower boiling point, the distillate that have resulted is not pure acetic
acid. Also, it can be observed that the Vapor phase of the acetic acid is predominant because
of its boiling point. This results because at lower temperatures, the system is mostly
composed of water. This can be observed because as the higher the temperature that is being
carried out for the specimen is a larger part of the more volatile liquid is vaporized. It has
been proven as the molecular weight inavertly affects the boiling temperature of the
substance, thus, a smaller amount of energy is needed to break up water’s molecular bonds
resulting into a lower boiling temperature, resulting to a higher mole fraction for water
compared to the glacial acetic acid. This trend can be observed in a P-xy diagram for the two
substances, in which where the quality of the vapor (the composition of the vapor) can be
observed at different temperatures Also, further analysis of the graph will yield to a
conclusion that the curve for the vapor phase of the vapor-liquid equilibrium system is above
the curve of the liquid phase which means that the solution or the liquid system will require a
higher temperature to change its phase from liquid to vapor. Also, in the graph, it can be
noticed that the vapor over the top of the boiling liquid has a composition which is much
richer in water, the more volatile component, since it has less percent mole composition of
glacial acetic acid, the less volatile liquid. Errors during the experiment came from the
leakage of then distillation setup due to poor equipment. Also, the inconsistent rate of the
distillate coming out made it difficult to get the exact amount of the distillate needed.

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Resulting from the experiment, it can be derived that when one component is more volatile
than the other, the boiling point composition of binary liquids through distillation identifies
that the intermolecular forces are relatively weak which means it has a higher vapor pressure
at a set temperature. This tells that the component has a lower boiling point compared to
glacial acetic acid which is very much less volatile than the water. As observed, the more
volatile substance becomes vapor more easily with less heat, allowing separation. As the set-
up used in the experiment did not provide adequate sealing, some vapor may have escaped
from the set-up. As such, another trial with more accurate instruments must be considered.

NOMENCLATURE

Pi= Partial pressure of a component in a binary mixture in mmhg

Xi=Mole fraction of the given component of the binary system. This is unitless

LITERATURE CITED

P. Atkins and J. de Paula, Physical Chemistry (8th ed., W.H. Freeman 2006) p.146

Smith, J. M.; Van Ness, H. C.; Abbott, M. M. (2005), Introduction to Chemical Engineering
Thermodynamics (seventh ed.), New York: McGraw-Hill, p. 545

Atkins and de Paula, p.184

 ADAMSON UNIVERSITY
College of Engineering
Chemical Engineering Department
M a n il a

Physical Chemistry for

Engineers 2
Experiment 1: Distillation of Binary Liquids

Prepared by: Signatures:

Sta. Teresa, Jabin M. _______________________

Sulay, Al Eixaaq, _______________________

Vicente, Rachel, _______________________

Torres, Melanie, _______________________

Submitted to:
Prof. Eduardo Hernandez _______________________
Date:
___________________________