lab report

Steam Distillation
Objective:
The steam distillation method is one of the efficient process in removal of organic compounds by using steam for co-distillation since many of the organic compounds gets easily decomposed on reaching boiling point. The water is used to achieve azeotropic distillation as this non-ideal mixture deviates from Raoult’s law making the distillation easier by lowering the boiling point of either components. The minimum boiling point of azeotropic distillation helps to separate volatile organic compounds from involatile inorganic compounds like tar, salt, leaves / seed of plants. The distillate is then transferred to filter/decanter unit for isolation of organic compound in dry state. For example, water-benzene azeotropic mixture distillation process only occurs on reaching temperature of 69.3 C where the partial pressure of components (benzene = 533 mmHg & water = 227 mmHg) suns up to 760 mmHg. In this mole fraction of benzene is 0.701 (533/760) and water is 0.299 (227/760), since molar mass of water & benzene is different results in different weight percentage of their vapor phase.
The aim/objective of this experiment is to isolate citral compound from lemon grass using steam distillation and methylene chloride for separation of citral from water. Since distillate contains small fraction of...