CM151L Physical Chemistry Laboratory 2

2nd Quarter SY 2019-2020

Three Component System

Calderon. Edna J.1 Domingo, Gerald C.2 Reccion, Mark Ardee T.3 Tiongson, Stephanie Claire M.4

1 Professor, School of Chemical, Biological and Material Engineering and Sciences, Mapua University
2,3,4 Student, CM151L/A7, School of Chemical, Biological and Material Engineering and Sciences, Mapua

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to generate a ternary binodal curve and determine the tie line of a ternary (acetic acid-water-ethyl
acetate) liquid-liquid equilibrium system. Eight different solutions with a) different concentration of acetic acid on the first four
solutions and b) different concentration of ethyl acetate on the last four as the basis. Data obtained were used to generate phase
diagram. To determine the tie line, a solution of acetic acid, water and ethyl acetate is prepared in a separatory funnel to facilitate
the separation of aqueous and non-aqueous layer. Each layer so titrated with 0.85M NaOH, hence, generating the tie lines. The
deviation of the result suggest that the reagent might not be a 100% pure as this can induce intermolecular attraction leading to
non-ideal behaviour and experimental mistakes contributed by the researchers.

INTRODUCTION

A ternary system is composed of three components. The
temperature and pressure of the system can be varied along
with two independent variables of the system. At constant
temperature and pressure, a two-dimensional phase
diagram can be drawn for the system.
A phase diagram is a coordinated triangular diagram that
state the composition and relationship of three components
system. It shows the conditions at which thermodynamically
distinct phases can occur at equilibrium. The number of
phases of a system that can exist in equilibrium at any time
depends on the conditions of temperature, concentration and
composition.
Ternary diagrams have a vertical temperature axis. The
actual ternary diagram maybe represented as a three-
dimensional form or more commonly as a two-dimensional
projection of the liquids surface onto the base of the triangle
created when the three binary diagrams are joined
together. In this system, there are 3 components but only 1
phase exists. Thus, by using the phase rule, we can find out
that the degree of freedom is 4 which are temperature,
pressure, and concentrations of the two of the three
components. At constant temperature and pressure, the
composition of a ternary system can be presented in the form
of triangular coordinates. Each peak of the triangle will
represent 100% of different component respectively. Each
side of the triangle represents a binary mixture where two
components mixed together, and any line drawn parallel to
one of the sides shows the percentage of a particular
component. (Canones, n.d.)
In the first part of this experiment, the amount of water added
to the acetic acid-ethyl acetate system was determined via
titration of the system until the cloudy appearance was met.
The cloudiness of the system indicated that there is a second
phase in the system.
Ethyl acetate was used to titrate the acetic acid-water system
until the cloudy end point was reached. The mixtures of water
and acetic acid was varied with different volumes of each
component combined. The cloudiness of the mixture
indicated that there is a second phase present in the system.
The mole fraction of each components was computed and
was used to obtain the points plotted in the triangular
diagram.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
For the first part, we have prepared 20 grams each of the
following mixtures: 10, 25, 40, and 60 percent by weight
acetic acid in water. The mixtures were then titrated with
ethyl acetate to cloudiness. The amount of ethyl acetate
used was then recorded.
For the second part, we have prepared 20 grams each of the
following mixtures: 10, 25, 40, and 60 percent by weight

Experiment 1. Three Component System│ Group No. 4│ 1 of 3

 CM151L Physical Chemistry Laboratory 2
2nd Quarter SY 2019-2020

acetic acid in ethyl acetate. The mixtures were then titrated Table 2. Acetic acid in water system
with water to cloudiness. The amount of water used was then
recorded.

For the third part, we have prepared about 40 mL of mixture

containing 10 percent acetic acid with 45 percent ethyl
acetate and 45 percent water. The mixture was allowed to
equilibrate, forming two layers. The layers were separated
using separatory funnel. The density of each layer was
determined using density meter; 5mL of each layer was then
titrated using with 0.20 M NaOH, and phenolphthalein as
indicator.
Having said these data, the experimental phase diagram for
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS this ternary system can be observed at Figure 1.

A phase diagram in a ternary system is a graphical Figure 1. Plot of the ternary system
representation of the state and composition of the three
phases at which it occurs thermodynamically distinct at
equilibrium.

Given a ternary (ethyl acetate-water-acetic acid) liquid-liquid

equilibrium system, eight different set-ups were made taking
into consideration the mass fraction of each component.

The system is completed through the aid of cloud-point

titration where the solution acetic acid in ethyl acetate is
titrated with water until thermodynamic equilibrium is
reached. Int eh first few drops, two layers is observed until
which the solution is completely homogenous. In this
manner, equilibrium is reached. Therefore, the composition
of the water utilized on the endpoint would determine the
third composition of the curve.

Table 1. Acetic acid in ethyl acetate system
From the figure above, it can be observed that the
experimental data has the same behaviour as a typical
bimodal curve, however, the deviations are too high. These
deviations might suggest that the solutions provided for the
experiment were not 100% pure, hence, contaminated.
Moreover, the water (assumed to be distilled) might compose
of traces of minerals such as carbonates and sulphates that
might induce the intermolecular attraction, suggesting that
the solution is non-ideal.

On the second part, the solution of acetic acid in water is then
titrated with ethyl acetate until the end point is reached. The
component of the titrant determines the third composition of
the ternary system.
Moreover, the equivalence point is reached after the
formation of a turbid solution. This solution is caused by the
formation of micelles wherein the stable binary solution is
added, dropwise, with the titrant, the Gibb’s energy of the
solution increases, creating an unstable condition.

Experiment 1. Three Component System│ Group No. 4│ 2 of 3

 CM151L Physical Chemistry Laboratory 2
2nd Quarter SY 2019-2020

On the other hand, the use of standardized 0.85M NaOH to https://www.academia.edu/31529417/I._Experime

determine the amount of acetic acid per phase exploits the
nt_3_II._Three_Component_Systems
1:1 ratio of the acid-base reaction. The amount of acetic acid
per phase, as projected onto the theoretical bimodal curve,
provides the tie lines for the tangential determination of plait
point. In this experiment, the plait point was located at the
0.15,0.45, 0.40in the ternary diagram, indicating the
composition of the solution 15%EtOAc-45% H2O-40%
HOAc by weight. This plait point implies that at this condition,
the solution will not split into two phases.

Table 3. Experimental tie line

CONCLUSION

Upon doing the experiment we have determined and plot the

phase diagram for a three-component system consisting of
ethyl acetate, acetic acid, and water. Moreover, we have
determined the experimental tie line on ethyl acetate-rich
layer and water-rich layer. Overall the students achieved all
of the objectives for this experiment.

REFERENCES

1. https://www.csun.edu/~jeloranta/CHEM355L/exper
iment5.pdf (sighted last November 24, 2019)
2. https://chem.libretexts.org/Textbook_Maps/Physic
al_and_Theoretical_Chemistry_Textbook_Maps/D
eVoe%27s_%22Thermodynamics_and_Chemistry
%22/13%3A_The_Phase_Rule_and_Phase_Diagr
ams/13.3_Phase_Diagrams%3A_Ternary_System
s (sighted last November 24, 2019)
3. Canones, J. (2017). Three Component System.
Retrieve from

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