Objective:: Bubble Cap Distillation Column
Objective:: Bubble Cap Distillation Column
Objective:: Bubble Cap Distillation Column
Objective:
Theory:
Equipment/Materials:
2. Refractometer
3. Syringe
4. Beaker
5. Measurement cylinder
6. Reagent bottle
7. Stop watch
8. Water
9. Ethanol
Procedure:
1. Prepare 7 ethanol-water mixture using pipette. Obtain the refractive
index of the mixtures using refractometer.
2. Prepare 32 liters of ethanol-water feed mixture with composition of
methanol 30% and water 70%.
3. Make sure all equipment is in place and in good conditions before
starting the experiment.
4. Adjust the valves position as follows:
Open valve: V2
Close valve: RCV1, V3, V4
5. Turn on the electric heater simultaneously with the coolant flow
pump.
6. Set the reflux ratio at 2.0 or 3.0 by slowly openning reflux control
valve RCV1 and the product distillate will flow to RI 1B. The rest of the
product distillate will flow through RI 1A and return to the reboiler
vessel.
7. To collect product distillate which does not return to the reboiler
vessel, adjust the position of the valves as follows:
Close valve V2
Open valve V3 (Close valve V3 if V4 is opened)
Open valve V4 (to collect sample)
8. Measure the volume and refractive index of the collected product
distillate.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 for every 5 minutes and fill in the table given.
10. Reminder: Make sure samples of the standard material and the
product distillate are kept in the container given.
Questions:
1. Plot graph refractive index vs. %-mole ethanol for benchmark mixture
of ethanol-water.
2. Discuss the resulted graph.
3. Calculate the ethanol mole fraction from the refractive index.
4. Plot graph mole fraction and volume of product distillate vs. time.
5. Discuss the advantages of bubble cap distillation column.
6. Discuss the data and results obtained.
7. List all the safety regulations and precautions that need to be
considered when conducting the experiment.
References:
Experimental setup: