Experiment no.

1: Distillation of Alcoholic Beverages Date performed: July 10,

2009
Authors: Bernas, Michael Bryan Date submitted: July 24, 2009
Cristobal, Xanthia Lou
Dela Cruz, Joshua Raymond
Dimaano, Ysrael
Diosomito, Maria Ana Ynoli

Abstract
Distillation is the process of heating a liquid until it converts into a vapor phase, the sample then goes
through a condenser tube where water passes around the outside of the tube causing the sample to return to
its liquid state which is then collected as distillate. Distillation is also used to purify a liquid such as water. This
is also applicable to alcoholic beverages. There are four distillation methods: simple distillation, fractional
distillation, vacuum distillation and steam distillation. For this experiment, distillation of alcoholic beverages, the
methods used are only simple distillation and fractional distillation. If the difference in boiling point of a mixture
with two constituents is great, separation is accomplished easily by simple distillation. While, fractional
distillation is used for substances that have a slight difference in boiling points because complete separation of
these substances cannot be accomplished by just simple distillation. The reason is, the distillate needs to be
redistilled for a couple of times in order to get a purer distillate. The even groups did the fractional distillation
while the odd groups did the simple distillation. The percent of ethanol was calculated as well as the percent
loss and percent error

I. Introduction
Distillation is the process of heating a liquid until it converts into a vapor phase and then cooling the
vapour in a process known as condensation in order to collect a distillate. This is used to separate
liquid components in a mixture that have a difference in their boiling points. By using simple and
fractional distillation, the objective is to differentiate between the efficiency of simple and fractional
distillation, separate the components of alcoholic beverages and calculate the percentage of ethanol in
the beverage.

II. Experimentation

In fractional distillation, 20 test tubes were prepared to a calibration of 0.5 ml each. A 15 mL

sample of Vodka with 90 proof was introduced to a pear-shaped flask together with 2 boiling chips. The
sample in the pear-shaped flask was heated by rotating an alcohol lamp. The temperature of the 1 st
drop of distillate was recorded at 78 C. The distillate was collected in the test tubes that were calibrated
to 0.5 ml while simultaneously recording the temperature of the distillate for every test tube. The
distillation was stopped when the temperature reached around 98 to 100°C. Then, the volume of the
residue and the distillate were measured. The samples of the first test tube and the last one underwent
flammability test where the sample was place in a watch glass one at a time and then lit with a match
stick to see if they still have the presence of ethanol. The data was graphed and the volume of ethanol
was computed together with the percent loss and percent error.

III. Results and Discussion

 Test tube Volume (mL) Temperature (C) Flame Test
1 0.0 78
1 0.5 78 +
2 1.0 78
3 1.5 77
4 2.0 71.5
5 2.5 78
6 3.0 79
7 3.5 80
8 4.0 79
9 4.5 76
10 5.0 79
11 5.5 96
12 6.0 99
13 6.5 99 -
Figure 1: Tabulated data gathered

There were only 13 test tubes gathered before the 15ml vodka sample almost reached the
temperature of 100 C. This is because 100 degrees Celsius is the boiling point of water and not of
ethanol. The temperature of the 1st drop of the distillate was recorded which was 78 degrees Celsius.
The boiling point of ethanol is 78.5 degrees Celsius. As the sample continues to boil, collection of the
distillate was also simultaneously happening for every 0.5 ml calibration of a test tube. The distillate
collected was 6.5 ml and the residue was 2 ml. The data of Temperature vs. Volume was graphed
afterwards. Then flammability test was done to the first test tube and to the last one. The first test tube
was positive in the flammability test which shows that there was presence of ethanol in the first sample
while the last test tube was negative for the flammability test which shows that there was no longer any
trace of ethanol. It was then observed that the concentration of ethanol decreases as the fractional
distillation goes on. The reason for this is that in fractional distillation, the sample is being redistilled over
and over again to produce a purer substance or with a lesser alcohol content for this matter.

Figure 2: Graphical representation (Temp vs Volume)

It was observed in the graph that there was a constant temperature for a while. This was
observed since 0.0ml to 4.0 ml of the distillate, this is the volume of ethanol. We concluded that vodka
is an azeotropic mixture. Azeotropoe are a mixture of two or more liquids that maintains their
composition even in vapour state. The boiling point of an azeotrope is either greater than (negative
azeotrope) one of its constituents or less than (positive azeotrope) it. The boiling point of water is 100°C
and the boiling point of ethanol is 78.5°C. The sample evaporated at 78°C which is lower than one of its
constituents and therefore is a positive azeotrope.

Computations
 %ETOH=VETOHVSxx100 %loss= sample-
(distilate+residue)samplex100

%ETOH=4.0 ml15 mlx100 %loss= 15-(6.5+2)15x100

%ETOH=26.67% %loss= 43.33%

% error= theoretical-experimentaltheoreticalx100

% error= 45-26.67theoreti45calx100

% error= 40.73%

Fractional distillation is more efficient than simple distillation because the percentage error
gotten from fractional distillation is around 40.73% while in the odd groups that performed simple
distillation. The percentage error was around 70 to 80 %.

IV. References
Books
Redmore FH. 1980. Fundamentals of Chemistry. Prentice Hall, Inc. Englewood Cliffs.pp.277
Mcmurry, Simaneck. 2007. Fundamentals of Organic Chemistry, 6th edition. Brooks/Cole. Belmont,
USA. pp.48.

Websites
www.encarta.com. Distillation. July 16, 2009. 2:06AM
www.encarta.msn.com. Azeotrope. July 16, 2009. 8:47 PM

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