STEAM DISTILLATION

Aim:

1) To understand the principle of steam distillation

2) To compare the experimentally observed results and phenomena to that predicted by
theory

Apparatus and Chemicals: Round bottom flask, Thermometer, Condenser, Measuring

cylinder, Water, Nitrobenzene / Aniline
Theory: Steam distillation is a process that is usually used for temperature sensitive materials
which cannot be separated by the normal distillation process.
Steam distillation uses the simple principle that when two immiscible liquids are brought
together in a system, each liquid exerts its own vapor pressure, irrespective of the presence of
other. As a result, the total vapor pressure above such a system is the sum of the vapor
pressures of the two liquids. This ensures that as soon as the sum of the vapor pressures of the
two exceeds the atmospheric pressure, boiling begins. As the boiling point of water is 100
degree Celsius, such a system ensures that the temperature sensitive material can be extracted
just below 100 degree Celsius, thereby ensuring that it doesn’t degrade. In theory the
theoretical and experimental ratios of the weight ratio the two components must be the same
but practically this is not observed.
𝑃 𝑀
Theoretical weight ratio is defined as 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 = 𝑃𝐴 𝑀𝐴
𝐵 𝐵

Where: PA, PB are partial pressures of component A and B.

MA, MB are molar masses of species A and B.

Figure 1: Schematic of steam distillation (source: http://www.chembook.co.uk/fig23-3.jpg)

Procedure:
 1. Take 200 ml of distilled water and 50 ml of Aniline/Nitrobenzene and add them to the
distillation flask. The distillation flask is fitted with a thermometer at the top to
measure the temperature of the mixture and a heater at the bottom to heat the mixture.

2. The distillation flask is connected at the top with a condenser to liquefy the vapors
boiling from the distillation flask. The liquefied vapors are collected at the end of the
condenser in a cylindrical flask.

3. The heater is switched on and the voltage is slowly increased to around 40 Volts and
then kept constant. The system is allowed sufficient time for the mixture to start
boiling.

4. The boiled vapors start to condense and are collected in a cylindrical flask. The
collected vapors are given sufficient time to settle down (usually around 24 hours) and
the volume of individual components are measured and noted down

Observations:

Temperature in the distillation column (T): 97 OC

Partial Pressure of water at T: 740 mm of Hg
Partial Pressure of organic compound at T: 20 mm of Hg
Density of water: 1 g/cc
Density of organic compound: 1.02 g/cc

Table 1: Volume of organic compound collected

Volume of Nitrobenzene in Extract 1(mL) Volume of Nitrobenzene in Extract 2(mL)

15.5 16

Table 2: Calculation of weight ratios

Weight of Weight of WA/WB PAMA/PBMB

Nitrobenzene(g) water(g)
Extract 1 15.81 84.5 0.187 0.185
Extract 2 16.32 84 0.194 0.185

Sample Calculation:

Total mass of Nitrobenzene = V*ρ = 15.5* 1.02 = 15.81 g

Total mass of water = V*ρ = 84.5
WA/WB = 15.81/84.5 = 0.187
PAMA/PBMB = (20*123)/ (740*18) = 0.185

Result:
The observed weight ratios of nitrobenzene and water mixture are 0.187 and 0.194 while
predicted ratio is 0.185.
Discussion & Conclusions:

Ø As water is more volatile than nitrobenzene more of water is obtained in distillate in

the first few collections. The amount of nitrobenzene in the distillate increases with
time.
Ø For the first reading the observed and theoretical weight ratios are nearly the same but
the difference increases for second reading.

Interesting Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7g4e3dhtgjI
(Try to watch it before the lab experiment)