BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 1

Training Papers
Basics of distillation

Contents

1 Introduction
2 What is distillation?
3 States of aggregation
4 Boiling point
5 Dependence of boiling temperature on pressure
6 Heat of vaporization
7 Heat transmission during boiling and condensation
8 Boiling of liquids
9 Bumping
10 Separation of mixtures
11 Definitions

Progress built on tradition

Copyright Rosemary Hoegger; BCHI Labortechnik AG 1998

English, Version B (10 pages) Order No.

Basic of Destillation 97741

BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 2

1 Introduction

Remember the first time you ever boiled water? You will certainly have
noticed how the steam formed running droplets, i.e. condensed, on
nearby surfaces. This was your first distillation. In the following report
you will learn how to carry out distillations along more scientific lines.

2 What is distillation?

Distillation is one of the oldest methods of separating liquid or molten

substances. During distillation the particles of a liquid are evaporated
by the input of external heat. These gaseous particles are then con-
densed by cooling, i.e. they are transformed from the gaseous state
back to their liquid state.
During this process only one phase moves, i.e. the vapor of the boiling
liquid.

Construction of a distil-
lation apparatus boiling point

separation of mixtures dependence of boiling temperature on pressure

vapor
state of aggregation
condensate

bumping heat of vaporization

boiling of liquids heat transmission during

boiling and condensation

Purpose of distillation Distillation is a fast, simple and effective method of cleaning and sepa-
ration. It separates solvents and volatile substances from non-volatile
liquids and solids.
(Solvents = e.g. water, alcohol, ether, petrol, chloroform, acetone, etc.)

Applications are: - Concentration of solutions: The solvent is distilled, leaving behind a

Research and development: higher-boiling or solid residue.
- Cleaning of volatile substances: If a volatile product is contaminated
with colored, resinous or high-boiling components, these contami-
nants remaining in the evaporating flask while the cleaned sub-
stance condenses in the condenser and is collected in the receiving
flask.

Technical application: In petroleum refineries, mineral oil mixtures are distilled to obtain light
petrol, petrol and heating oil.
BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 3

3 States of aggregation

The smallest particles (molecules, atoms, ions) of a substance are held

together more or less strongly by mutual attraction (cohesion). A sub-
stance's state of aggregation, i.e. its physical condition, depends by
and large on the intensity of this attraction and on the kinetic energy of
the particles.

There are three charac- Solid

teristics states of A substance is solid when the kinetic energy of
aggregation (physical the particles is less then their mutual attraction
conditions)

Liquid
A substance is liquid when the kinetic energy of
the particles is great enough to balance their mutual
attraction.The particles are able to move among
themselves but without separating.

Gaseous
A substance is gaseous when the kinetic energy
of the particles is so great as to overcome their
mutual attraction.The particles are able to move
freely.

Changes of physical If the state of aggregation changes from solid to liquid, we talk of melt-
conditions ing; in the reverse case we speak of solidification. Changing from the
liquid to gaseous state is called evaporation or boiling; the reverse is
known as condensation or liquefaction.
Direct changes of phase from solid to gaseous and vice versa are also
possible. In both cases we speak of sublimation, which literally means
suppression (of the liquid state).

gaseous

evaporation condensation

sublimation liquid consolidation

melting soldification

kinetic energy of
particles solid
BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 4

4 Boiling point

The boiling point of a liquid is that temperature at which its vapor

pressure equals the ambient pressure and at which the change-over
from liquid to gaseous state takes place. A liquid boils when it reaches
its boiling point.
The boiling point is a substance-specific physical variable (e.g. 100C
for water, 78C for ethanol). As a rule, a liquid can only be heated up to
its boiling point (see "9. Bumping" for exceptions).

Evaporation/ebullition There are big differences between the evaporation and ebullition of a
liquid.



,

Evaporation: Molecules evaporate only at the surface of the liquid.
The necessary energy is drawn from the surroundings. The temperature
of the liquid drops.
Ebullition: Molecules evaporate throughout the liquid. The necessary
energy needs to be input by heating.

,

Vaporization: Vaporization generally means a change from liquid to
gaseous state at higher temperatures. The term has not yet been clear-
ly defined.

heating
bath

evaporation ebullition

Vapor pressure Molecules or particles which dissociate from the surface of a liquid
exert a pressure against their surroundings; this is known as the liquid's
vapor pressure.
A liquid's vapor pressure depends solely on the liquid's temperature
and is a measure of a compound's volatility.

low vapor pressure high vapor pressure

BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 5

5 Influence of pressure on boiling point

(atmospheric pressure)

Contrary to the melting point, the temperature of ebullition depends

greatly on pressure. The higher the ambient pressure, the higher the
temperature of ebullition; the lower the ambient pressure, the lower the
temperature of ebullition (e.g. water: 100C in Nice at sea level, but
approx. 84C on Mont Blanc at 4810 meters altitude).
High-boiling substances can be distilled at a lower boiling
temperature if their ambient pressure is reduced.
In practice, distillations are carried out at reduced pressure (vacuum
distillation) in order to prevent damage to temperature-sensitive sub-
stances. Substances with a boiling point of 100C or higher are often
distilled in vacuum in order to use a water bath as heat source (tem-
perature range up to max. 100C).

air molecules

solvent or
substance
molecules

Normal pressure Vacuum

Dissociation of liquid Dissociation of liquid
particles at particles at reduced
atmospheric pressure. pressure (vacuum).
Struggle against many Struggle against fewer
air molecules. air molecules.

"high" boiling point "low" boiling point

6 Heat of vaporization

When a liquid reaches the temperature of ebullition, it evaporates with-

out any further rise of temperature.
During evaporation the liquid needs to receive a continuous supply of
energy in the form of heat to overcome the forces of molecular attrac-
tion. This heat supply is called the heat of vaporization.

o
C
liquid gaseous

temperature
of ebullition

heat of
vaporization kJ
BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 6

The heat of vaporization is a substance-specific physical variable.

Contrary to the boiling point, however, it is practically independent of
pressure. The specific heat of vaporization is the amount of heat (in kJ)
required for 1 kg of the liquid to evaporate. The unit is expressed in
kJ/kg. A substance's heat of vaporization is the same regardless of
whether the liquid passes into the gaseous state as the result of boiling
or pure evaporation.

e.g. water e.g. dioxane

335 kJ 2261 kJ 167 kJ 360 kJ

(80 kcal) (541 kcal) (40 kcal) (86 kcal)
heating to evaporation heating to evaporation
boiling point at 100C boiling point at 101C
from 20C from 20C
to100C to 101C

The heat of vaporization is independent of the boiling

point, i.e. a high boiling point does not automatically mean
a high level of vaporization heat, as the following
examples indicate:

Substance Boiling point Heat of vaporization

xylene 144C 345 kJ/kg (82 kcal/kg)

toluene 110C 347 kJ/kg (83 kcal/kg)
dioxane 101C 360 kJ/kg 86 kcal/kg)
water 100C 2261 kJ/kg (541 kcal/kg)
ethanol 78C 837 kJ/kg (200 kcal/kg)
chloroform 62C 246 kJ/kg (59 kcal/kg)
aceton 56C 546 kJ/kg (131 kcal/kg)

Water has the highest heat of vaporization of all common solvents.

All principles concerning evaporation and the heat of vaporization apply
in reverse for the condensation and the heat of condensation.
BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 7

7 Heat transmission during boiling and condensation

When a vessel is heated from below, the vessel wall becomes hot first
and then passes on the heat to the vessel contents. The heated liquid
(e.g. water) rises and the colder liquid sinks to the bottom of the vessel.
This is called convection.
Heat transmission by convection proceeds very slowly and is depend-
ent on such physical variables as viscosity, density, thermal conductivity
and thermal coefficients of expansion. If the liquid is moved and mixed
in the heating bath by some additional means, e.g. by using a rotating
flask, we speak of "forced convection".

Heat transmission

Convection Turbulence

The hot liquid expands, Layers of the liquid are

becomes lighter as the mixed mechanically by
result and rises, while stirring (or rotation of
the colder layer sinks the evaporating flask in
slowly to the bottom. the water bath).
Movement - and hence Mixing - and hence
temperature balancing - temperature balancing -
takes place very slowly takes place quickly.

This process is also called This process is also called

free convection forced convection

Those variables linked with the phase transition (heat of vaporization,

boiling point, surface tension) are not important until boiling
commences.
The energy required on the evaporator side can be supplied selectively
and in concentrated form, but when it comes to removing this energy
on the condensation side it has to be "collected" from the widely dis-
tributed gas particles. Hence the condensing area is generally several
times bigger than the heating area.
BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 8

8 Boiling of liquids

On the walls and the bottom of a vessel there are fine pores and irregu-
larities which trap very small air bubbles when liquid is filled in. These
extremely fine bubbles are enlarged by thermal expansion.

Evaporating particles of liquid pass into these bubbles, causing them to

grow until they finally break away and rise as boiling bubbles. This
results in the familiar appearance of a boiling liquid
nucleate boiling.

Nucleate boiling Vapor bubbles

Nucleation: Breaking away: Liquid:

(fine pores As a rule there Flowing of
and irregu- is no clean the partial
larities in the separation of condensation of
vessel surface the gas bubble the residual
which trap fine from the vessel vapor, formation
air bubbles wall, leaving of new nucleations
during filling) residual vapor at the same point

If there are no such pores or irregularities and hence no fine air bubbles
to act as nucleations, they are created artificially, e.g. with boiling
stones, or the hot liquid is moved to the surface by some additional
means (e.g. stirring, rotation of the evaporating flask, etc.).

9 Bumping

If there is no nucleation in the form of air bubbles and if the liquid is not
moved by some additional means, it cannot evaporate.The liquid
overheats.
The convection current is very slow and is unable to move and distrib-
ute the input heat quickly enough. Evaporation starts abruptly when the
extremly overheated liquid finally reach the surface as the result of the
slow convection.
The escaping vapor bubbles can carry over a large part of the liquid.
Instead of small vapor bubbles rising to the surface of the liquid one at
a time, they join together at the bottom of the vessel to form large
vapor bubbles which then rise suddenly to the surface with a powerful
thrust. This phenomenon is often seen in liquids with sediment.
BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 9

Bumping and its build-

up (e.g. water)
1
1. Surface
3 2. Temperature profile
3. Convection current
2
The convection current is very slow and
unable to transfer the input heat fast enough.
The liquid near the heat source is over-
heated.

2 1. Once the overheated liquid particles

reach the surface, evaporation sets in
abruptly and very quickly.

2. The explosion-like increase of volume by

1
a factor of between 1000 and 20,000
(in the case of water) produces a pressure
wave which forces up colder overlying
liquid.

Bumping can be prevented by stirring or shaking the liquid, or by using

boiling stones.

10 Separation of mixtures

Solids and high-boiling If there is a difference of at least 100C between the boiling points of
solvent residues the substances to be separated, separation is possible with little effort:

- When distilling a mixture of solvent and solids, the solvent evaprates

while the solids remain behind as residue.
- The procedure is the same for separating solvent from high-boiling
residues (e.g. oils, fats, glycerine, etc.)

Complete separation is possible with a single distillation run.

Low-boiling residues If there is only a small difference between the boiling points of the sub-
stances to be separated, a single evaporation and condensation run is
unable to separate the substances with sufficient purity; the process
has to be repeated several times.

Technical distillation systems are designed to permit multiple-stage dis-

tillation in continuous mode. In this case we no longer speak of distilla-
tion but of rectification or fractional distillation.
BCHI Training papers Basics of distillation 10

11 Definitions

Volatility Tendency of a liquid to pass into the gaseous state without any great
input of heat.

Substance-specific, Each substance has its own characteristics such as melting point,
physical variable boiling point, etc.

Viscosity The resistance of a liquid to flow (e.g. honey).

BCHI
Labortechnik AG

P.O. Box
CH-9230 Flawil
Switzerland
Phone 071 394 63 63
Fax 071 394 65 65
http://www.buchi.com
e-mail: sales@buchi.com