SEPARATION

TECHNIQUE
S
PREPARED BY: MARK JESSON L. SOPOSO
SEPARATION TECHNIQUES

 Although very useful in separating, analysing, and

identifying the components of a mixture, chromatography
does not allow you to separate the components of a mixture
into usable form. In cases when you need usable forms of the
component of a mixture, you use other methods of
separation.
SEPARATION TECHNIQUES

 The choice for the separation technique will depend on the

properties of the substances within your mixture. Different
methods will be used in separating a solid from another
solid and in separating a liquid from a solution.

 Here are a few separation techniques and how and when to

use them.
 Mechanical or Manual Separation

 Thismethod is used to manually

separate (with the use of hands,
forceps, sieves, magnets, or
tongs) a solid from another solid.
For example,
 Filtration

 This method is used to separate

small, insoluble solid particles
dispersed or suspended in a liquid
medium (e.g., SAND in WATER). In
this process, the liquid medium and
the suspended particles are passed
through a filter or sieve.
The solid particles retained in the filter or sieved are
called residues, and the liquid that passes through the
filter is called the filtrate.
 Decantation

 This method is used to separate a dense

and insoluble solid (i.e., too large to be
filtered using standard filtration setup)
from liquid. Example, In washing rice, you
slowly tilt the container so that the water
will spill over slowly, leaving the rice
grains in the container
 Evaporation

Insoluble solids can be obtained

form a liquid suspension either
through filtration or decantation.
However, some solids like salt
and sugar dissolve after being
placed in water.
 Toseparate dissolved solids from liquid solution, you can simply
heat the solution until all the water or liquid evaporates, leaving
the solid behind. This process is called evaporation to dryness.
This method is used by salt farmers in Pangasinan to obtain salt
from seawater.
 Using a Separating Funnel

Liquids such as oil and

water do not readily mix.
Liquids that do not mix or
dissolve in each other are
called immiscible liquids.
Immiscible liquids can be separated from
one another using a separating funnel In
using this technique, first put the two liquids
inside the separating funnel, making sure
that the tap is closed.
Place a beaker under the funnel and then open the
tap. This will allow the lower layer to drain to the
beaker. Close the tap after draining the lower layer.
Dissolution

 This method is used to separate an insoluble solid from a

soluble solid using a liquid solvent. Suppose you spill a
cup of sugar in your rice container. Separating the sugar
from the rice manually can be difficult. However, you
can separate the rice from the sugar simply by washing
the rice. The sugar dissolves in water.
 Distillation
 In the process of evaporation, only the
dissolved solid can be obtained. The
liquid solvent evaporates into the
atmosphere. How can you collect a liquid
from a solution?
 The liquid solvent can be separated from
a solution through a process called
distillation.
This method involves heating the solution until
it boils and then condensing vapour back to
liquid form in a separate container. Pure water
can be distilled from a salt solution using
distillation. The extracted liquid from a
distillation process is called distillate.