Organic Chemistry Laboratory – First Term 2015-2016

Distillation of Alcoholic Beverages

Marianne Grace Floirendo*, Connie Gabriel, Amanda Gabrielle Garcia, Mikhail Gonzales

Department of Biological Sciences, College of Science

University of Santo Tomas, Espana, Manila 1051

Date Submitted: September 2, 2015

ABSTRACT

The experiment is about the distillation of alcoholic beverages. There are four types of distillation but only two types, which
are the simple distillation and the fractional distillation, were done. . The aim of this experiment is to be able to separate
ethanol and water and after separating, compute or calculate the percentage of ethanol and the alcoholic beverage. The
ethanol and the water were separated through this technique. The calculated percentage of ethanol is 48% and the calculated
percent loss is 16%.

Keywords: Distillation, Simple distillation, Fractional distillation

INTRODUCTION
Distillation is the process of heating a liquid, condensing the vapor, and collecting the
condensate in another container. This technique is very useful for separating a liquid mixture when the
components have different boiling points or when one of the components will not distill. The boiling
point is one of the principal methods of purifying a liquid. The boiling point is the temperature at which
the vapor pressure of a liquid equals the external pressure acting on the surface of that liquid. There are
four types of distillation that serves a certain purpose being more effective and efficient in distilling one
compound from another. The types of distillation are simple distillation, fractional distillation, vacuum
distillation, and steam distillation.
Simple distillation is the process of boiling a liquid mixture or solution and condensing the vapor
to obtain a pure liquid. The liquid to be distilled is placed in the distilling flask and heated. The heated
liquid vaporizes and is forced upward past the thermometer that record its temperature and into the
condenser which liquefies the vapor. The vapor is condensed to liquid in the cooling condenser, and the
liquid flows downward and into the receiving flask. The temperature observed during the distillation of a
pure substance remains constant throughout the distillation so as long as both vapor and liquid are
present in the system. Figure 1 indicates the simple distillation set-up.
Figure 1. Simple distillation set-up

Fractional distillation is a technique used when separating a mixture of two liquids that do not
work fine enough to use simple distillation. This technique differs from simple distillation by the use of
a fractionating column between the distilling flask and the distillation head. The vapor and condensate
from the boiling liquid are passed through this fractionating column before they reached the distillation
head. The fractionating column contains a packed that contains either metal turnings or glass beads. As
vapor rises through this column, it condenses on the packing and revaporizes continuously. Using good
fractionating column means better separations are possible and liquids with small boiling point
differences may be separated by using this technique. In terms of how well the fractionating column can
separate a pair of compounds is called its efficiency. The efficiency of a column depends on both its
length and its packed, which means that the greater the length of the column, the greater its efficiency. A
common measure of the efficiency of a column is given by its number of theoretical plates which is
related to the number of vaporization-condensation cycle. One theoretical plate is equal to one simple
distillation. Below is a picture of a fractional distillation set-up.
Figure 2. Fractional distillation set-up
 Vacuum distillation is distillation at a reduced pressure. It is used for compounds that have high
boiling points, above 200C. Such compounds often undergo thermal decomposition at the temperatures
required for their distillation at atmospheric pressure. Since the boiling point of a compound is lower at a
lower external pressure, the compound does not need to be heated to a high temperature in order for it to
boil. The simple, fractional, and vacuum distillation are applicable to miscible mixtures only. The last
type of distillation is the steam distillation, which is the distillation of a mixture of water (steam) and an
organic compound or a mixture of organic compounds. The organic compound must be insoluble in
water for the steam distillation to be successful. A mixture of immiscible liquids will boil at a lower
temperature than the boiling points of any of the separate components as pure compounds. When steam
is used to provide one of the immiscible phases, this is called steam distillation. The advantage of steam
distillation is that the desired material distills at a temperature below 100C. Below are the pictures of a
vacuum and steam distillation set-up.
Figure 3. Vacuum distillation set-up Figure 4. Steam distillation set-up

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Table 1. Simple Distillation:
*First drop = 57.9

Test tube Temperature Test tube Temperature

1 62.9 17 87.4
2 73.2 18 88.9
3 74.6 19 90.5
4 76.7 20 91.6
 5 78.0 21 92.9
6 78.4 22 93.9
7 79.7 23 94.2
8 80.5 24 94.8
9 80.8 25 95.0
10 81.0 26 95.5
11 81.7 27 96.1
12 82.4
13 83.2
14 84.3
15 85.7
16 86.4

Table 2. Fractional distillation:

*First drop = 69.5

Test tube Temperature Test tube Temperature

1 75.0 5 76.0
2 76.4 6 77.1
3 76.9 7 76.5
4 75.7 8 77.2
9 77.9 19 90.0
10 77.7 20 93.8
11 78.0 21 95.5
12 78.6 22 95.7
13 79.0 23 95.8
14 79.0 24 96.6
15 79.0
16 80.0
17 83.6
18 86.6

% Ethanol: 24 × .5 = 12 residue  9mL

12
× 100 = 48 % Loss: total – (residue  12)
25
% Ethanol = 48% 25 – (9 + 12)
25 – (21)
4
× 100 = 16
25
% Loss: 16%
 Distillation is a general technique used for removing a solvent, purifying a liquid, or separating
the components of a liquid mixture. It is one of the oldest and still most widely used techniques in
organic chemistry for separating compounds based on the differences on their boiling points. It is a
process that uses heat to separate two or more substances in a liquid mixture. This is usually done by
vaporizing the liquid mixture in one vessel and condensing the vapors into another. When a liquid
mixture is heated, the liquid with the lower boiling point evaporates which becomes a vapor, leaving
behind the liquid with the higher boiling point. The vaporized substance is captured and then released
into a condenser where it cools and then returns to liquid water form. Boiling point refers to the
temperature at which the liquid boils at a given pressure. In the context of distillation, there is more than
one boiling point because the liquid being distilled is a mixture of two or more liquids. Vapor pressure is
the exerted pressure of the liquid as a result of molecules leaving the surface of the liquid to become
vapor. When the vapor pressure of a liquid substance reaches the external pressure, the substance is
observed to boil. The choice of whether to use fractional distillation or simple distillation depends on the
two liquids being separated. Using simple distillation is desirable because the apparatus is simpler,
requires less energy, and a simple distillation typically goes faster than a fractional distillation. On the
other hand, fractional distillation gives better separation between the liquids. The choice of whether to
use simple or fractional then depends usually on the difference in boiling temperatures between the two
liquids. If there is a large difference in the boiling points (>70C) between the two liquids then simple
distillation is preferable, but if there’s only a small temperature difference between the two liquids then
fractional distillation is preferable. Fractional distillation is a more efficient method as compared to
simple distillation. The fractionating column is longer giving more area for the compounds to fully
separate. Also, fractional distillation demands for more than one cycle, while simple distillation
demands for only one. Thus, the purity of the distillate taken from the fractional distillation apparatus is
greater, following the idea that the purity increases with the number of cycles it experiences.

EXPERIMENTAL METHODOLOGY
First, the test tubes were calibrated at 0.5mL volume. The fractional distillation set-up was
assembled to prepare for the experiment. The joints were greased well to prevent vapor loss. Then,
25mL of sample beverage and two pieces of boiling chips were placed in the distilling flask. Some
groups were given gin as alcoholic beverage while others were given vodka. The flask then was heated
with a Bunsen flame while constantly being rotated around the flask to control the flame. 0.5mL of
distillate was collected in separate numbered dry test tube. The temperature for every 0.5mL collected
was noted. The distillation was stopped when the temperature reached 96-97C. The set-up was cooled
and the remaining liquid from the distilling flask was poured into the graduated cylinder. The volume
was recorded. The temperature readings versus the volume of distillate were plotted, and the percentage
of ethanol was calculated.

REFERENCES
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