Boiling Point Composition Diagram: CH3COOH-H2O System

106

105

104
Temperature (OC)

103

102

101

100

99

98

97
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Mole % CH3COOH

The system is a mixture of two distinct liquids, water and acetic acid, in constant pressure and
varying temperature. The graph of the binary system was plotted using data points (temperature vs molar
fraction) gathered from the distillation of an initial acetic acid-rich solution. Some points deviated too far
from the expected values and were removed in order to maintain a relatively accurate plot of the
theoretical data for the binary system of acetic acid and water.

It can be observed that the plot has three regions representing phase regions wherein only vapor
phase, vapor and liquid phase, or only liquid phase exists. The bottom region represents the liquid-only
region and is separated from the liquid-vapor region by a curve. This curve represents the temperature
values at which a certain solution of fixed concentration starts to evaporate. The upper region represents
the vapor-only region and is separated from the liquid-vapor region by another curve. This curve
represents the temperature values at which all the liquid in a certain mixture have already evaporated.

The composition of the liquid and vapor component at a constant temperature of the liquid-vapor
region can be determined by the liquid and vapor curves. Given a temperature, the liquid and the vapor
composition can be determined by getting the intersection of the horizontal line defined by the given
temperature and the two curves. The x-values of these two points represent the molar composition of
the liquid phase and the vapor phase.

The endpoints of the two curves represent the boiling points of the distinct liquids in the mixture.
The point wherein the liquid has a molar fraction of one corresponds to its boiling point. In this case, the
experimental boiling point of water is around 98 °C while for acetic acid, the boiling point is around 105
°C.