Chemical Engineering Laboratory Report

Heriot-Watt University Malaysia Campus

Stage 2
Chemical Engineering Laboratory Report

Name Liaw Li Ling

Group Number 3

Experiment Title Vapor and Liquid Equilibrium

Date of 30th January 2018

Experiment

Demonstrator Dr. Carynn

Date Created 2-Apr-18 Page 1 of 5

Chemical Engineering Laboratory Report

1. Aims & Objectives

The aim of this experiment is to study the binary system of ethanol-water

system at the atmospheric pressure. A certain amount of the mixture of ethanol
and water is initially fed into the evaporator. As the heat is switched on, the mixture
is heated up and started to boil. The heater consists of temperature controller to
make sure that the temperature will not exceed the set point value and it will turn
off as the temperature is exceeded. As the liquid mixture is boiled, the liquid is
changed into the vapor phase and the vapor is rose from the evaporator into the
condenser. The vapor is then condensed and turned into liquid phase again. The
phase equilibrium between vapor and liquid is reached at a certain point.
Moreover, the samples of vapor and liquid is collected and used to determine their
composition such as weightage and refractive index when the temperature is
constant at certain point.

The objective of this experiment is to construct an equilibrium curve for the

ethanol-water system at atmospheric pressure.

2. Derived Results & Discussion

Component A Component B
Name Ethanol Distilled Water
Density (g/mL) 0.789 1
Molecular Weight
46.07 18.02
(g/mol)
Table 1: Properties of the components used.

Mol Refractive
Volume of A (mL) Volume of B (mL)
Fraction Index (RI)

0 10 0.000 1.330
1 9 0.033 1.336
2 8 0.072 1.342
3 7 0.117 1.347
4 6 0.171 1.351
5 5 0.236 1.356
6 4 0.316 1.358
7 3 0.419 1.361
8 2 0.552 1.362
9 1 0.735 1.363
10 0 1.000 1.364
Table 2: Calibration Data

Table 2 represents the calibration data for ethanol and distilled water with certain
volume. Refractive index of the ethanol-water mixture is determined. Refractive index
is important to determine the composition of ethanol.

Date Created 2-Apr-18 Page 2 of 5

Chemical Engineering Laboratory Report

Vol. of Composition Refractive

Vol. of Temperature
Pressure Distilled (wt%) Index (RI)
Ethanol
(bar) Water
(L) Liquid Vapor Liquid Vapor Liquid Vapor
(L)
1 0 2.5 99.1 88.2 0.00 0.00 1.335 1.338
1 0.3 2.5 91.4 85.1 4.76 4.81 1.333 1.347
1 0.5 2.5 91.1 86.0 7.76 7.81 1.334 1.344
1 0.9 2.5 86.6 84.2 13.35 13.58 1.335 1.358
1 1.6 2.5 83.7 82.1 22.08 22.41 1.339 1.359
1 2.5 2.5 82.1 80.5 31.70 32.05 1.344 1.359
1 2.0 0.3 77.6 77.0 97.56 97.85 1.355 1.359
1 2.5 0.5 78.4 77.4 82.40 82.40 1.358 1.358
1 2.5 0.9 79.4 78.3 62.68 62.73 1.358 1.359
1 2.5 1.6 80.6 79.0 44.15 44.21 1.357 1.359
1 2.5 2.0 81.2 80.0 37.75 37.86 1.356 1.360
Table 3: Data For Equilibrium Curve at Atmospheric Pressure.

Vapour-Liquid Equilibrium Graph

120
Vapour Compostion Weightage (%)

100

80

60

40

20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Liquid Composition Weightage (%)

Graph 1: Vapour-Liquid Equilibrium Graph For Ethanol

Date Created 2-Apr-18 Page 3 of 5

Chemical Engineering Laboratory Report

Temperature vs Vapour-Liquid
Equilibrium for Ethanol-Water System
120

100
Temperature (°C)

80

60
Liquid
Vapour
40

20

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
Liquid/Vapour Composition Weightage (%)

Graph 2: Vapour-Liquid Equilibrium Graph For Ethanol-Water System

In Thermodynamics, Vapour-liquid equilibrium (VLE) explains the distribution of

chemical species between the liquid phase and the gas phase. It is also a function of
total pressure of the conducted process. The concept of VLE is useful for chemical
engineers in fractional distillation design which is used to separate mixtures by
boiling and condensation process. This will eventually result in differences in
concentrations of components in liquid and vapour phases.

For this experiment, it is a mixture of ethanol and water where the system of this
mixture can be known as binary system of ethanol and water. For this experiment,
the graph of liquid and vapour composition weightage graph is plotted to determine
the equilibrium level of the system. As plotted, it shows a straight line which indicates
the vapour phase and the liquid phase of the ethanol is at equilibrium state.

The mole fraction for ethanol and water are determined by calculation by using
the density of each compound. The density of methanol is 0.789 g/cm³ while the
density of water is 1g/cm³. The mass of each compounds is then calculated with
density and volume used. The refractive index is then recorded at a constant interval
from both liquid and vapour samples to determine the composition of ethanol in liquid
and vapour phase.

Temperature-liquid-vapour graph is plotted (Graph 3) is plotted with the

liquid/vapour composition weightage. When the mole fraction of liquid ethanol
increases the mole fraction of vapor methanol increases as well.

Methanol is a volatile liquid. During the experiment, putting the ethanol in

the beaker without closing the beaker can lead to the leakage of the ethanol as
it vaporized slowly. The ethanol is added before the temperature heater is lower than
50°C. All this action is contributing to the error of this experiment where accurate
data is hard to achieve. The eyes were not perpendicular when recording the volume
of ethanol in the cylinder.

Date Created 2-Apr-18 Page 4 of 5

 Chemical Engineering Laboratory Report

3. Summary of Findings

As the conclusion, this experiment is carried out successfully. The

relationship between the vapour and liquid at the normal pressure was
successfully determined. The objective of this experiment is to construct an
equilibrium curve for the ethanol-water system at atmospheric pressure. From
the result of this experiment, the composition of ethanol in vapor is higher
than the liquid. The composition of ethanol in vapor and liquid increases when
the volume of ethanol increases as well.

4. Appendix

Volume Mol Mol total Mol Fraction Refractive Index Weightage

Ethanol Water Ethanol Water Ethanol Water Liquid Vapor Liquid,x Vapor,y
0 2.5 0 138.7347 138.7347 0.00 1.00 1.335 1.338 0.00 0.00
0.3 2.5 5.137834 138.7347 143.8726 0.04 0.96 1.333 1.347 4.76 4.81
0.5 2.5 8.563056 138.7347 147.2978 0.06 0.94 1.334 1.344 7.76 7.81
0.9 2.5 15.4135 138.7347 154.1482 0.10 0.90 1.335 1.358 13.35 13.58
1.6 2.5 27.40178 138.7347 166.1365 0.16 0.84 1.339 1.359 22.08 22.41
2.5 2.5 42.81528 138.7347 181.55 0.24 0.76 1.344 1.359 31.70 32.05
2.5 0.3 42.81528 16.64817 59.46345 0.72 0.28 1.355 1.359 97.56 97.85
2.5 0.5 42.81528 27.74695 70.56223 0.61 0.39 1.358 1.358 82.40 82.40
2.5 0.9 42.81528 49.94451 92.75979 0.46 0.54 1.358 1.359 62.68 62.73
2.5 1.6 42.81528 88.79023 131.6055 0.33 0.67 1.357 1.359 44.15 44.21
2.5 2 42.81528 110.9878 153.8031 0.28 0.72 1.356 1.36 37.75 37.86

Date Created 2-Apr-18 Page 5 of 5