Separation and Purification

Techniques
Soft Toys Games Books
But what if…

Sugar

Sand

How to separate them?

Lesson Objectives
At the end of the lesson, students should be
able to:
Name the 3 methods in which we can test for
pure substances
Identify the effect of impurities on a substance.
Choose suitable separation techniques to
separate a given mixture.
Explain the working principles behind each
separation technique.
To test for Purity of a Substance
Methods of Testing Observation

If a substance is pure, it will

Melting point
melt at a fixed temperature.

If a substance is pure, it will

Boiling point
boils at a fixed temperature.

If a substance is pure, it will

Use of chromatography show only one spot on the
chromatogram.
Effect of impurities in a substance
Attributes Effect of impurities

A substance melts below its

Melting point
melting point.

A substance boils higher than its

Boiling point
boiling point.

Gives rise to more than one

Use of chromatography
spot on the chromatogram.
Physical Methods of Separation
Only separate the different substances in a
mixture.
No new substance is formed.

The choice of separation

technique depends on the
nature of the mixture.
Common physical methods to separate a
mixture

◦ Paper chromatography
◦ Filtration
◦ Crystallisation
◦ Simple and fractional distillation
FILTRATION

Solid-Liquid Mixture
 Filtration
Solid-liquid mixture (insoluble solids) E.g. sand
in water
A filter paper is used because it contains very tiny
pores.

Mixture of solid
and liquid
Applications
NEWater – purification of water using
microfiltration to remove impurities.
CRYSTALLISATION

Separating soluble solids from a solution

 Crystallisation
 To separate dissolved pure solid from a
solution. Maximum amount
of solid dissolved
in a given solvent.

2. Saturated solution

Evaporation of solution

3. Pure Crystals formed.

1. Heat the solution

until saturated.
How to test for saturated solution?
Dip a glass rod into the solution and
removed.

Ifcrystals are formed on the glass rod, it

means that the solution is saturated.

This is the saturation point or

crystallisation point.
Think!!!
Why can’t we just evaporate the solution
to dryness to obtain the crystals?

For some substances, they will

decompose when heated.  charring

When water is removed, any soluble

impurities will be left on the crystal  not
pure.
Mixture of Sand and Sugar
How do I get sand and sugar back?

Filtration Sand is the residue, filtrate is

the sugar solution

Crystallisation  pure sugar crystals

Is the filtrate always a pure liquid?

SIMPLE DISTILLATION

Separating liquid from a solution

Distillation
To separate a liquid from a solution.
E.g. salt solution, sugar solution
Involves two physical state changes.
 Set-up for distillation Main concept
Boiling point of the liquid
Bulb of thermometer placed beside
the side arm of the distillation flask to
ensure accurate measurement of
1 boiling point.
Liquid is heated until
its boiling point and
2
changes to vapour.
Vapour is cooled
and changes to
liquid (distillate).

Mixture

To ensure smooth
boiling.
Other examples:
1. Marble chips
2. Porcelain chips
Boiling chips
To ensure smooth boiling
During boiling of water, big air bubbles
can be seen.
These air bubbles causes ‘bumping’.
Boiling chips can reduce this ‘bumping’
effect.
 Temperature Profile

Temperature remains unchanged

until all the liquid boils off.

Temperature as
solution is heated
Disadvantage of Simple Distillation
Unable to separate liquids who boiling
point differ by less than 20°C.

Use fractional distillation!

FRACTIONAL
DISTILLATION
Separating miscible liquids
Fractional distillation
For liquids that are miscible and having
different boiling points.
Miscible – mix together completely to
form a solution. E.g. water and ethanol
Liquid with lower boiling point distill
over first.
Liquids with higher boiling point will
return back into the round-bottomed flask.
 Set-up of fractional distillation
Main concept
Boiling point of the liquids
where the liquid with the
lowest boiling point
Thermometer Water outlet will distill over first.

Condenser
Fractionating
column

Round-bottomed flask
Water inlet
Liquid-liquid mixture
Distillate

Boiling chips
During fractional distillation,
• The liquid with lowest boiling point will
distill over to the condenser first.

• The vapour of liquids with higher boiling

point condenses along the fractionating
column and re-enter the round-bottomed
flask.
Fractionating Column
Packed with glass beads
 
Provide large surface area for
evaporation and condensation of liquids
with different boiling points  for
effectively separation.
Temperature Profile
Liquid with lowest boiling
point will distill over first

Second liquid distill

over.

First liquid distill over

upon reaching its
boiling point
A separating funnel
is a container which
has a tap at the
bottom, allowing you
to drain off one liquid
before the other.
A separating funnel is used to separate a mixture of
liquids which are immiscible and have different
densities.
Oil and water are two
liquids which are
immiscible and they
have different densities.

If a mixture of oil and

water is placed in a
separating funnel, the
oil will float on the
water. Opening the tap
allows the liquid with the
highest density (water)
to run off into the
beaker below.
Industrial Applications
Separation of liquid air
Separation of crude oil
Separation of alcohol from fermented
solution.
Think!!!
What is the difference between
distillation and fractional distillation?
Simple distillation Fractional
Distillation
No fractionating Has a fractionating
column column
Separate liquids whose Able to separate
boiling points differs liquids whose boiling
more than 20°C point differs by less
than 20°C
Think!!
Isit possible to obtain salt from seawater?
Yes

However, industrially, we use reverse

osmosis to obtain salt (Desalination).
What is the reason?
Distillation exhaust a lot of energy,
resulting in high production cost.
 TYPES of MIXTURES
MIXTURE SUBSTANCES TO METHODS
OBTAIN

Salt mixed with Salt crystals Evaporation

broken glass pieces

Sea Water Pure Salt Desalination/

Distillation

Copper (II) Sulphate Copper (II) Sulphate Crystallisation

solution Crystals

Ink Pure Water Paper

Chromatography

Wine Ethanol Fractional Distillation

Check your Understanding
Which process is used to separate

Three water-soluble dyes? Chromatography

Two miscible liquids with boiling points of

78°C and 100°C? Fractional distillation

Water containing an insoluble solid?

Filtration
Water containing a dissolved solid?
Crystallisation
 Check your Understanding
A mixture contains the following three liquids that are
completely miscible:
 
Liquid Boiling point (°C )
propanone 48
Ethanol 78
Water 100
 The liquid can be separated by fractional distillation.
State, with a reason, which liquid will distill over first.
Propanone. It has the lowest boiling point among the 3
liquids.

 Name an industrial process that involves fractional distillation.

Fractional distillation of crude oil
What did you learnt today?
3 methods to test for purity
Effect of impurities in a substance
3 separation techniques and their working
principles