Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Distilling down to azeotropic composition

cnidocyte - 8-4-2011 at 00:29

Lets say I have a 5% HCl solution and want to concentrate it via distillation. If I distill it once I'll get the HCl more concentrated but one distillation wont bring it up to its azeotropic composition (20%). How would I go about reaching 20% without doing a long series of distillations to gradually increase the mole fraction of HCl?

gsd - 8-4-2011 at 01:07

Distill thru' column with reflux.

gsd

cnidocyte - 9-4-2011 at 07:28

Thanks. Does the column need to be packed?

gsd - 9-4-2011 at 07:35

yes

gsd

BTW when you say "column" it implies a packed device. Else it is a pipe or a tube.

gsd

[Edited on 9-4-2011 by gsd]