Fractional

• Fractional distillation


  A method to separate a mixture of different liquids based on their different boiling points
• Fractional distillation


  • Requires a mixture of liquids with different boiling points
  • Uses a fractionating column with glass beads to increase the separation
• Fractional distillation process


  1. Heat the mixture

  2. Vapors with lower boiling point rise up the fractionating column first

  3. Vapors condense and drip back into the flask

  4. Repeated evaporation and condensation increases the purity of the lower boiling point liquid

  5. Thermometer measures the temperature, indicating when a pure fraction has been collected
• If the liquids have very similar boiling points, it is much harder to separate them and multiple rounds of fractional distillation may be required
• The equipment shown is not suitable for separating very large volumes of liquid, such as when refining crude oil