1.

INTRODUCTION
Separating two components in a liquid solution through distillation depends on the
distribution of these components between a vapor phase and a liquid phase. The driving
force for this kind of separation is the relative volatilities of the two components in the liquid
solution (Geankoplis, 2003). Distillation is one of the most widely used separation process
used in various industries. (Coulson & Richardson, 1996).
Phase creation is the underlying mechanism of the separation through distillation.
During the distillation, the components are distributed between vapor phase and a liquid
phase where the vapor phase is created from the liquid phase by vaporization at the boiling
point [Geankoplis, 2003]. It takes advantage of the differences in volatility between the
components of a liquid mixture. The more volatile component is progressively transferred to
the vapor phase and the less volatile condenses out in the liquid resulting to an increase in
concentration of the more volatile component in the vapor and a decrease in concentration
of the less volatile component in the liquid or the bottoms (Foust et al., 1980).
There many ways distillation can be done. It can be done in batch or continuous
process, and either with or without reflux involved. The distillation process in this experiment
is operate in batch with rectification. In this experiment, the feed is boiled sloly and th vapors
are withdrawn as rapidly as they are form to a condenser, where the condensed vapor or
distillate is collected (Geankoplis, 2003). The composition in the still pot and vapor changes
continuously with time. The first portion of distillate will be richest in the more volatile
component and it would become leaner in the volatile component as time progresses (along
is the decrease in the composition of the component in the still pot). Figure 1 shows a
simple still of a batch distillation column.

Figure 1. Simple Batch or Differential

Distillation
Rayleigh equation is used in a batch distillation calculations, which is derived from the
material balance on A for a binary mixture of A and B. Originally, a charge of L1 moles of
components A and B with a composition of x1 mole fraction of A is placed in the still. At any

given time, there are L2 moles of liquid left in the still with composition x 2, and the
composition of the vapor leaving in equilibrium is y where it is assumed that dL is the small
amount that is vaporized.
Upon relating the total moles of feed at the beginning and at the end, the equation (1)
(Rayleigh equation) is obtained from the material balance over the component in a batch
x1

L
dx
ln 1 =
L2 x yx

Equation 1

The integration of equation (1) can be done graphically by plotting

or by calculating values of

f ( x )=1/ ( yx )

1
y x

against x

numerically. The total area under the curve is

calculated from x1 to x2 and consequently the L2 moles of liquid left in the still is obtained.

ln

L1
L2

Figure 2. Graphical Integration

The average composition of the total distillate, yAV, can be obtained through material
balance as shown in equation (2).

y av =

L1 x 1L2 x 2
L1L2

Equation 2

In the experiment, the process involves the use of reflux. Since batch distillation does
not give good separation unless the relative volatility is very high, a rectifying column with
reflux is used in many cases to improve the performance of the batch still [McCabe et al.,
1993]. Constant reflux ratio is used since varying the reflux ratio is difficult to perform and

impractical. Reflux ratio (R) is defined as the ratio of the quantity of liquid returned per (L R)
unit quantity of product removed from the process unit (D) as given in equation (3) below.

R=

LR
D

Equation 3