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Figure 3 depicts an industrial fractionating column separating a feed stream into one distillate fraction and one bottoms fraction. However, many industrial fractionating columns have outlets at intervals up the column so that multiple products having different boiling ranges may be withdrawn from a column distilling a multi-component feed stream.
The q-line (depicted in blue in Figure 1) intersects the point of intersection of the feed composition line and the x = y line and has a slope of q / (q - 1), where the parameter q denotes mole fraction of liquid in the feed. For example, if the feed is a saturated liquid, q = 1 and the slope of the q-line is infinite (drawn as a vertical line).
The fractions at the top of the fractionating column have lower boiling points than the fractions at the bottom. All of the fractions are processed further in other refining units. Fractional distillation is also used in air separation, producing liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, and highly concentrated argon.
Laboratory distillation set-up using, without a fractionating column 1: Heat source 2: Still pot 3: Still head 4: Thermometer/Boiling point temperature 5: Condenser 6: Cooling water in 7: Cooling water out 8: Distillate/receiving flask 9: Vacuum/gas inlet 10: Still receiver 11: Heat control 12: Stirrer speed control 13: Stirrer/heat plate
Fractionation makes it possible to isolate more than two components in a mixture in a single run. This property sets it apart from other separation techniques. Fractionation is widely employed in many branches of science and technology. Mixtures of liquids and gasses are separated by fractional distillation by difference in boiling point.
Some high-boiling liquids that have an azeotrope with water can be dried by adding toluene or another azeotrope-breaking solvent to allow the extraction of water. The Dean–Stark method is commonly used to measure moisture content of items such as bread in the food industry. This equipment can be used in cases other than simple removal of water.
A fraction in chemistry is a quantity collected from a batch of a substance in a fractionating separation process. In such a process, a mixture is separated into fractions, which have compositions that vary according to a gradient. A fraction can be defined as a group of chemicals that have similar boiling points.
Spinning band distillation is a technique used to separate liquid mixtures which are similar in boiling points. When liquids with similar boiling points are distilled, the vapors are mixtures, and not pure compounds. Fractionating columns help separate the mixture by allowing the mixed vapors to cool, condense, and vaporize again in accordance ...