Abstract

The objectives of this experiment are to study the effects of parameters on the thermal
separation efficiency using short path distillation. In the experiment, a homogenous mixture
at ratio 5:5 of ethylene glycol and water is mixed and fed into the short path distillations
feed. At a constant feed rate, the stirrer speed is set as a parameter, varying at 50rpm, 100rpm,
150rpm and 200rpm. The volume and reflective index of the concentrate and distillate are
taken. Another parameter studied is the temperature, varying at 70C, 75C, 80C and 85C.
The volume and reflective index of the condensate and distillate are also taken. To calculate
efficiency we can use the formula:
Efficiency=

Concentrate Volume
x 100
Feed Volume

Where,

Feed Volume=

Feed Flow Rate ( mL/min)

x 100
Time of Distillation(min)

From the experiment, the increasing of the stirrer speed, the separation efficiency
increases. On the other hand, as the temperature increases, the separation efficiency also
increases. Therefore, an increase of stirrer speed and temperature in short path distillation,
improves the separation efficiency of the homogenous mixture.