Question

Explain carefully what happen to the propanol-water system if approximately

50% of propanol by mass is fractionally distilled. What will be the distillate and
the residue?

Answer 1

In the case of mixtures of ethanol and water, this minimum occurs with 95.6% by mass of ethanol in the mixture. The boiling point of this mixture is 78.2°C, compared with the boiling point of pure ethanol at 78.5°C, and water at 100°C. You might think that this 0.3°C doesn't matter much, but it has huge implications for the separation of ethanol / water mixtures. The next diagram shows the boiling point / composition curve for ethanol / water mixtures. I've also included on the same diagram a vapor composition curve in exactly the same way as we looked at on the previous pages about phase diagrams for ideal mixtures.