Experiment: 1

Aim: To determine the Critical Solution Temperature (CST) or upper consolute point of phenol-water
system.

Principle: Two partially miscible liquids may become completely miscible at a higher temperature since solubility
increases with temperature generally. This miscibility temperature is different for different compositions of the mixture.
The highest miscibility temperature is called the critical solution temperature or CST. Above this temperature, all
compositions of this mixture are completely miscible.

Procedure: Take a clean hard glass test tube and a

thermometer (range upto 100 C and readability/accuracy
of 0.1 C and aluminum stirrer (don’t take copper stirrer).
Measure 5 mL of 80% phenol into the hard glass tube.
Separately, fill a burette with water. Add 0.5 mL water into
the tube containing phenol. Check the appearance of the
solution (whether transparent or turbid. If the solution is not
turbid, add another 1mL water). Hold a thermometer and
stirrer (as demonstrated in the lab) in the tube and heat
slowly on a water bath, stirring continuously. Note the
temperature at which turbidity just disappears. Take out
from the water bath and allow the tube to cool slowly while
stirring. Note the temperature at which turbidity reappears.
Then add another 0.5 or 1 mL more of water into the tube
and repeat the experiment. Continue like this till a total of
~30 mL water is added. Plot the average miscibility
temperatures against wt. percentage of phenol on a graph
paper. The maximum point in the curve is the CST of
phenol-water system.

Observation and Calculation: Volume of 80% phenol in water: 5 mL

(i.e., 1 g water added in 4 g phenol )

Miscibility temperature (C) Average

Vol. of water Wt. % of miscibility
phenol in water Turbidity Turbidity temperature
(mL) ((4/total vol.)x100) disappears reappears
(C)
0.5 72.7
0.5 66.7

Results: CST of phenol-water system = ____ C.

Critical composition = ____ % phenol in water.
Prepared by Dr. S. Saha, Chemistry, BHU.
 Extra Information:

A student's data: Effect of impurity on CST (02/8/11)

75 Disappearance
Reappearance
70
Temperature / C
o

65

60

55

50

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Wt% of Phenol in Water

A student's data: Effect of impurity on CST (2/8/11)

75
Avg
% (2)
70
Avg. miscibility Temp. / C
0

65

60

55

50
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Wt% of Phenol in Water

Prepared by Dr. S. Saha, Chemistry, BHU.

 Anurima's data: Effect of impurity on CST (2/8/11)
100
Avg. miscibility temp.
90

80
Avg. miscibility Temp. / C
70
0

60

50

40

30

20

10

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Wt%
Anurima's data: of Phenol
Effect in Water
of impurity on CST (2/8/11)
200
Avg. miscibility temp.

150
Avg. miscibility Temp. / C
0

100

50

-50

-100
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Wt% of Phenol in Water

Comment: Above two figures show the importance of X-axis range. Data sets are same for all three figures.

Prepared by Dr. S. Saha, Chemistry, BHU.

Experiment: 2

Aim: To determine the effect of impurity (KCl salt) on the Critical Solution Temperature (CST) of phenol-
water system.

Observation:

Figure: The influence of KCl concentration on the CST of Phenol-water system.

Prepared by Dr. S. Saha, Chemistry, BHU.