Science assignment

Kevin Jiménez Reyes

History of distillation

Early evidence of distillation was found on Akkadian tablets dated circa 1200 BC
describing perfumery operations. The tablets provided textual evidence that an
early primitive form of distillation was known to the Babylonians of ancient
Mesopotamia. Evidence of distillation was also found related to alchemists working
in Alexandria in Roman Egypt in the 1st century. Distilled water has been in use
since at least 200 AD when Alexander of Aphrodisias described the process. Work
on distilling other liquids continued in early Byzantine Egypt under Zosimus of
Panopolis in the 3rd century. Distillation was practiced in the ancient Indian
subcontinent, which is evident from baked clay retorts and receivers found at
Taxila, Shaikhan Dheri, and Charsadda in modern Pakistan, dating to the early
centuries of the Common Era. These "Gandhara stills" were only capable of
producing very weak liquor, as there was no efficient means of collecting the
vapors at low heat. Fractional distillation was developed by Tadeo Alderotti in the
13th century.

In 1500, German alchemist Hieronymus Braunschweig published Liber de Arte

destillandi (The Book of the Art of Distillation), the first book solely dedicated to the
subject of distillation, followed in 1512 by a much-expanded version. In 1651, John
French published The Art of Distillation, the first major English compendium on the
practice, but it has been claimed that much of it derives from Braunschweig's work.

Chemical engineering emerged as a discipline at the end of the 19th century, and
with it, scientific, rather than empirical methods, started to be applied. The
developing petroleum industry in the early 20th century provided the impetus for
the development of accurate design methods, such as the McCabe–Thiele method
by Ernest Thiele and the Fenske equation.

Liquid fire. (n.d.). Retrieved March 17, 2020, from

https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2003/12/18/liquid-fire
French, J. (n.d.). The Art of Distillation . Retrieved March 17, 2020, from
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/jfren_ar.html