Determining The Percent Ethanol from Gin (Ginebra) by Simple and Fractional

Distillation

Recabo, P., Rendon, M., Sagun, M., Songcuya, M., Suarez, D.J., Tan, A. 2B-PH,
Group 7., Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Santo Tomas, Espaa
Boulevard, 1015 Manila, Philippines

ABSTRACT
Distillation is a mixture of liquids with sufficiently different boiling points that can often be
separated into its components. The main principles involved in this process are evaporation and
condensation. There were two types of Distillation Methods introduced to the class namely,
Simple Distillation and Fractional Distillation. However, Fractional Distillation was the task
assigned to the group. The groups objective is to distill ethyl alcohol or ethanol from Ginebra
Gin. The group calibrated 14 test tubes to .5ml and were numbered. 15ml of Ginebra Gin was
placed on the distillation set-up and was heated constantly using an alcohol lamp in a rotating
manner. The distillates were collected in the calibrated test tubes and the temperatures were
recorded. Flammability tests were applied for the first distillate and the last distillate. By the end
of the experiment, 7ml was collected with 46.67% of computed ethanol content.
INTRODUCTION
Distillation is the recovery of valuable
components from a liquid mixture by vaporization
and condensation. A mixture of liquids with
sufficiently different boiling points can often be
separated into components by distillation. (2) There
are two frequently used methods for distillation:
Simple Distillation is frequently used in the organic
chemistry labs and is use when the liquid is
contaminated by a liquid with a boiling point that
differs by at least 70C and when an essentially pure
material is separated from a non-volatile or from a
solid contaminant. (3) Fractional Distillation is based
on the establishment of a large number of theoretical
vaporization-condensation cycles and is commonly
used if the combined liquids to be distilled have a
close boiling point range. (4) Distillation separates
the basic components of fractions of a mixture by
their individual boiling points. During the distillation
process, a mixture is heated until it vaporizes and
condensed.

The condensed liquid is referred to as the distillate;

the liquid that does not vaporize in a column is
called the residue. (5) Any volatile substances
dissolved in the liquid do not boil, but
remain in the distilling flask.
In this experiment, the group should be able
to achieve the following objectives: (1) To
separate the components of the gin using
fractional distillation, (2) To calculate the
percent ethanol in the Ginebra Gin.
METHODOLOGY
Materials
The apparatus used by the group are
fractionating column, still head, condenser,
boiling chips, pear-shaped flask that
contains the boiling chips, thermometer,
alcohol lamp, and the calibrated test tubes
that will serve as the container for the

distillates. The reagent used is the Ginebra

Gin.
Procedure
The group was tasked to perform fractional
distillation of vodka. 14 test tubes were

calibrated to .5 mL and each of them were

numbered. The distillation apparatus were
then set up by the group similar to as seen in
Figure 1. Then, 15 mL of Gin was put to the
flask. It was then heated using an alcohol
lamp in a rotating manner. The initial
temperature recorded by the group was 29
C.
The distillate was then collected to the
calibrated test tubes. The temperature of the
first drop of each distillate of each tube was
recorded. Heating stopped at 94 C.
Flammability tests were also conducted
were the first and the last test tube were each
placed in an evaporating dish and were
lighted with matches. Thorough observation
was conducted.
Formulas were used to solve and to get the
% alcohol and %loss
Volume of distillate
Alcohol=
100
Volume of sample

Loss=

Figure 1: Fractional Distillation

Set-up

Vol. of Sample(Vol. of Distillate + Remaining Vol.)

100
Volume of Sample

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION RESULTS
The
Test Tube #

Volume

Temperature

.5

73

74

1.5

74

76

2.5

76

78

3.5

78

78

4.5

78

10

82

11

5.5

90

12

92

13

6.5

94

14

94

temperature of every 0.5 mL distillate was

recorded and shown in Table 1

Table 1: Temp. (

reading per 0.5 mL of

distillate.

Distillate Collected
100
95
90
85
80
75
70
65
60
55
Temperature (C) 50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0

Volume (mL)

Graph 1: Plot of Temperature (oC) against

volume (mL) of distillate

Graph 1 shows the relationship of

temperature and volume of distillate. It
shows that as the volume of distillate
collected increases, the temperature also
increases.
Table 2 shows the result of the
flammability test of the first distillate test
tube and the last distillate test tube.
Table 2: Flammability Test

Distillate

Flame Test

Color of
Flame
Blue

First
Positive
Distillate
Last
Negative
NA
Distillate
The result shows that the first distillate
produced a blue flame while the last
distillate did not even produced flame.
The percent alcohol and percent loss of the
fractional distillation method can then be
computed using these formulas:

Alcohol=

Volume of distillate
100
Volume of sample

Loss=

15 mL(7 mL+ 4.5 mL)

100
15 mL

Loss=23.33

In Table 1 and Graph 1, a portion of the

result has temperature that stopped from
rising and is constant as showcased by the
straight lines in the chart. The straight line is
called azeotrope. An azeotrope is a liquid
mixture with an equilibrium vapor of the
same composition as the liquid. The
azeotrope are called constant boiling
mixtures as the liquid and vapor
compositions are the same, the boiling point
of the liquid mixture remains constant as
vapor is generated (6).

The flammability test shows that the first

distillate was primarily composed of the
alcohol content as it produced a flame while
the last distillate is composed primarily of
water as it did not produced flame.

It is shown in the computation that the

percent alcohol in Ginebra Gin sample is
46.67% while the percent loss is 23.33%.
Vol. of Sample(Vol. of Distillate + Remaining Vol.)
Loss=
100
Volume of Sample
SIMPLE DISTILLATION RESULTS
Then,

Alcohol=

7 mL
100
15 mL

Alcohol=46.67

Test Tube
#

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13

Volume

0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
6.5

Table 1.1: Temp. (

Temperature

80
82
83
85
87
88
90
91
93
95
97
98
100
reading per 0.5 mL of

distillate from the other group who was assigned to

simple distillation

Graph 1.1 shows the relationship of

temperature and volume of distillate. It
shows that as the volume of distillate
collected increases, the temperature also
increases. It has the same trend in the
fractional distillation set-up
Table 2.2: Flammability Test

Distillate

Flame Test

First
Distillate
Last
Distillate

Positive

Color of
Flame
Blue

Negative

NA

Table 2.2 shows the result of the

flammability test of the first distillate test
tube and the last distillate test tube.
The Percent Alcohol and Percent loss
from the simple distillation can then be
computed
Alcohol=

6.5 mL
100
15 mL

Percent Alcohol = 43.33 %

Loss=

15 mL(6.5 mL+ 5.5 mL)

100
15 mL
Percent Loss = 20%

Simple Distillation - Distillate

200

Temperature ( 100
0

Volume (mL)

Graph 1.1: Plot of Temperature (oC) against

volume (mL) of distillate

Overall, the difference between simple and

fractional distillation is the number of times
that the liquid is vaporized and condensed.
Simple distillation condenses the liquid once,
so the boiling points of the two liquids must
be far apart to make it efficient. (8) The
number of simple distillations in a fractional
distillation apparatus depend on the length and
efficiency of the fractionating column. The

process is the same; the difference is mainly

one of iteration.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.
7.

8.

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Pacific Groove, CA. Thomson
Brooks/ Cole
Seader, J. D., and Henley, Ernest J.
(1998). Separation
Process
Principles. New York: Wiley
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http://swc2.hccs.edu/pahlavan/2423L
7.pdf date accessed: July 25, 2011
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6602463/
DKE202ch9 Date Accessed: July 28,
2011
http://education.seattlepi.com/explai
n-simple-vs-fractional-distillation3690.html