Wild Chemistry Ride 6:


Simple Distillation

Distillation involves only two physical changes: 1. The liquid/ solution mixture is boiled to vaporise the most volatile component in the mixture; 2. The vapour is cooled by cold water in the condenser to condense it back to a liquid, which is the distillate, and is collected

Essentially, simple distillation is based on the principle of the lower boiling point of miscible liquids

Distillation can be used to purify water  and separate two miscible (=forming a homogeneous mixture when adde together ) liquids, like in a desalination plant and oil refineries.

Fractional Distillation

It separates a mixture of miscible liquids using a fractionating column and by the order of boiling points: the liquid with the lowest boiling point is distilled first, while the liquid with the highest boiling point is distilled last. Fractional distillation makes use of condensers as well, and the differences between fractional distillation and simple distillation are: 

• Fractional distillation uses a fractionating column while simple distillation does

• Fractional distillation consumes more energy than simple distillation

• Fractional distillation has much better separation between liquids than simple distillation

• Fractional distillation separates immiscible liquids with difference in boiling points of approximately 20-25 degrees Celsius