Fractional Distillation chm2210sp11 home精馏 chm2210sp11回家.docxVIP

Distillation is the process of separating a liquid mixture into its parts. The first recorded events of distillation go back to Alexandria in the first century A.D. The Arabic alchemists knew of distillation from the Egyptians before them and the philosopher Alexander of Aphrodisias wrote of it around 200 A.D. The process has since been adapted to suit the separation of just about any combination of liquids imaginable. Some of these needs can be accomplished on a small scale in the laboratory. Others, such as the separation of crude oil into its major components, are done on such a large scale that revision to technique is needed. To this end, much large scale distillation is executed under the modified principles of small scale distillation. The mathematics and general principles are very similar, but the equipment and methods of control are drastically different. In this paper I hope to point out the general similarities and differences between the two.The intended outcome of distillation is the separation of a mixture by utilizing the differing boiling points of each component to separate the compound into its parts. When a heterogeneous mixture is composed of parts with a wide difference in boiling points, simple distillation can be repeated to produce higher purity product. When separating a mixture of closely differing boiling points, fractional distillation can be utilized, as the process of fractional distillation amalgamates several cycles of simple distillation into one process. Assume a heterogeneous mixture is composed of pure compounds higher temperature boiling A andlower temperature boiling B. The process begins in the pot. Here the temperature is raised to just above the boiling point of A. As the mixture begins to boil, gas composed of A and B is formed. Travelling up the column, the cooler temperature causes the gas to condense onto the sides and packing inside the column. The liquid gets warmer running back towards the heated pot and some of it ev