Development of an improvised convertible distillation apparatus for teaching and learning chemistry

Abstract

Distillation is an important concept in chemistry as it involves separation techniques which are widely used in various industries. However, despite its significance, it is hardly understood and appreciated because it is rarely performed in laboratory experiments. Distillation requires expensive apparatus to conduct which most schools cannot afford. Hence, an improvised convertible distillation apparatus for simple, fractional and steam distillation was developed using common household and recyclable materials. Improvised measuring devices were also fabricated to determine the purity of the distillates. The performance of improvised apparatus was assessed and compared with the standard apparatus using real samples. The improvised apparatus, using fractional distillation set-up, produced 91.3% alcohol from alcoholic beverage while the simple/steam distillation setup, yielded distilled water from the salt-water sample and essential oil from pomelo (Citrus maxima) peel with percentage yield of 0.56%, respectively. The improvised apparatus for fractional distillation yielded a higher alcohol content (x̅=91.3%; 95%CI=91.0, 91.6) than the standard apparatus (x̅=85.7%; 95%CI=85.3, 86.1) while the efficiency of separation of the improvised apparatus for simple/steam distillation was comparable with standard apparatus. Thus, the improvised apparatus offers a cheaper alternative for conducting distillation process in chemistry experiments. The cost of performing distillation process is further reduced by using improvised measuring devices to measure the purity of the distillates in lieu of chemicals and reagents. Aside from being cost-effective, the improvised apparatus is easy to construct, durable, user-friendly and safe to use.