Separation

techniques
Class OI
 KEY WORDS
• SOLVENT
The liquid in which solution is made .
• SOLUTE
The substance dissolveed in the solvent.
• SOLUBLE
If the solute dissolve in solvent it is soluble in that solvent
• SOLUTION
The mixture of solute and solvent
• DILUTE SOLUTION
A solution that contain little amount of solute
• CONCENTRATED SOLUTION
A solution that contain large amount of solute ina given amount of
solvent.
• SATURATED SOLUTION
A solution that contain as much solute as can be dissolvedat a particular
temperature.
• RESIDUE
A solid that is left on the filter paper.
• FILTRATE
A liquid that pass through the filter paper.
SEPARATING SOLID/SOLID MIXTURES

1-By Magnet:
This method is used to separate a mixture of two
solids. One condition must be present though.
This is that one of the solids is magnetic. For
example if we have a mixture of sand and iron
chips. We can separate them by:
Pouring the mixture in a dish,
• Introducing a magnet just above the mixture.
• The iron chips will immediately get attracted to
the magnet leaving sand behind.
• By Sublimation:
If we have a mixture of two solids, one of
them undergoes sublimation we can easily
separate them by heating the mixture using a
Bunsen burner.

One solid might melt while the other one will

directly sublime into a gas. This process must
be done in a fume cupboard in order to collect
the gas.
• By Solvent Extraction Method:
This method is used one of the solids is water soluble,
while the other is insoluble, for example a sand and
salt mixture. In this method, the mixture is put in a
beaker and water is added to it. The mixture is stirred
on gentle heating to make the salt dissolve in the water
quickly. Then the mixture is filtered using a filter funnel
and filter paper. The residue will be the insoluble sand
and the filtrate will be the salt solution. The sand is
dried and collected. The salt is obtained from the
solution by either the evaporation or the crystallisation
method which will be studied later on.
SEPARATING SOLID/LIQUID MIXTURES

• Solubility: A solution is formed when a solute is

dissolved in a solvent. If you leave a hot saturated
solution to cool, crystals of the solute will form. This is
because as the temperature decreases the solvent can
hold less solute so excess will form in the form of
crystals.
The rate of dissolving can be increased by:
Increasing temperature,
• More stirring,
• Crushed solute (larger surface area).
• Solubility: The maximum amount of solute that can dissolve in 100g of water at a particular
temperature.
If we want to find the solubility of table salt (sodium chloride) at 30oC, we do the follow these
steps:
Use a balance to measure 100g of water accurately,
• Pour the 100g of water into a beaker,
• Heat the water to 30ºC using a Bunsen burner and a thermometer,
• Using a spatula, add a considerable mass of the table salt into the water and stir,
• If the mass of salt dissolves completely, add the same amount again and stir, repeat this if the mass
keeps dissolving completely until you start seeing excess of the salt not dissolving at the bottom of
the beaker,
• You have to record the masses of salt you are adding each time and when you start seeing the
excess stop adding salt and sum up the amount of salt you added. Call this Mass1,
• Filter the solution. The excess of salt will be the residue, dry it and weigh it. Call this Mass2,
• The amount of table salt that was dissolved in water is Mass1 - Mass2,
• This is the solubility of table salt at 30ºC.
• Solubility increases as temperature increases. This is because the intermolecular spaces between
the water molecules increase with temperature, giving more space for the solute’s molecules.
 By Evaporation (For Soluble
Solid/Liquid Solutions):
By Evaporation
• Put solution in a beaker,
• Set the apparatus (Tripod with a gauze above
it and a Bunsen burner below it),
• Put the beaker on the gauze,
• Start heating the solution slowly.
• The liquid will evaporate completely leaving
the solute behind in powder form.
 By Crystallization (For Soluble
Solid/Liquid Solutions):
• Put solution in a beaker,
• Set the apparatus (Tripod with a gauze above it and a Bunsen burner
below it),
• Insert a glass rod in the beaker,
• Turn on the Bunsen burner and continuously dip the glass rod in the
solution,
• When you see crystals of the solute starting to form on the glass rod, turn
of
the Bunsen burner. (This is crystallization point),
• Leave the solution to cool,
• Filter the solution and take the crystals, which will be the residue,
• Wash the crystals with distilled water then dry them between two filter
papers.
• Note: Do not dry the crystals in oven because it will evaporate the water of
crystallization.
Crystallization:
Principle: Separation of a soluble solid from a solution.
Crystal: The definite geometrical shape of a solid is called its crystal. The process of making
crystals is called crystallization.
Crystallization by
Cold Method Hot Method
Cold Method:
e.g. prepare pure crystals of copper sulphate (CuSO4)
1. Prepare a saturated solution of CuSO4.
2. Filter the solution.
3. Place the filtrate in a cold atmosphere, after many hours few large size crystals will form.
4. Filter to separate crystal, wash it with distill water and then dry it between the folds of
filter paper.
Note:
• It is a slow process but very suitable method for making large size crystals.
• It is a very suitable method for making heat unstable crystals.
Hot Method:
e.g. Prepare pure crystals of copper Sulphate (CuSO4)
1. Prepare a saturated solution of CuSO4.
2. Filter the solution.
3. Place the filtrate on flame in evaporating dish until crystallizations, cool it, filter it and
wash it with
distill water and then dry it between folds of filter paper.
NOTE:
Don‘t heat the filtrate till dryness because:
1) The crystals may decompose, if it is heat unstable.
2) Water of crystallization may loss if present.
3) A powdered compound is obtained instead of crystals.
Effect of Excess Heat on Crystals:
Example:
 By Simple Distillation (For Soluble
Solid/Liquid Solutions):
• By Simple Distillation
• Set the apparatus as shown in the diagram below,
• Turn on the Bunsen burner,
• The solvent will evaporate and rise as vapor into the condenser,
• The cold water surrounding the tube where the water is in the condenser
will make the vapor condense into liquid,
• The solvent is collected in the tube or beaker on the other side of the
condenser, it’s called the distillate,
• The solute is collected in the flask as powder,
• The thermometer must be where the vapor passes the measure the
boiling point of the solvent
• This method is ideal for distilling sea water.

•
• 1. Order of working: First boiling & then condensing.
• 2. Anti bumping stones are added to avoid the splashing or bumping of solution at boiling point to
• prevent large bubbles to form and to allow small bubbles to form at boiling point.
• 3. The bulb of the thermometer should be parallel to the mouth of the delivery tube to measure an
• accurate boiling point.
• 4. In water condenser, the water should enter from the lower bottom side to ensure good
• condensation because when water move from bottom to top then it completely fill the condenser,
• stay longer & the vapours which are just going to escape from the condenser will receive fresh
• cold water due to which their condensation will also occur.
• 5. Top of the receiver flask should be open to allow trap air and uncondense vapour to escape.
• Importance:
• 1. To make distill water.
• 2. Desalination.
• NOTE: Uses of distill water:
• 1) As electrolyte in car batteries.
• 2) It is used in pharmacy to make medicines.
• 3) For making solutions of exact concentration in Laboratory for experiments.
Simple Distillation
 Filtration (For Insoluble Solid/Liquid
Mixtures):
Filtration :
• Set the apparatus as shown below,
• Pour the mixture into the filter funnel,
• The solvent will go through and be collected in
the beaker as the filtrate,
• The insoluble solid will be collected from the
funnel as the residue.
•
Filteration [separates liquid from solid]
 Decantation (For Insoluble
Solid/Liquid Mixtures):
• This method is very simple. It involves letting the insoluble solid rest at the
bottom of the beaker. Then pouring the liquid in another beaker leaving
the solid behind.
 Centrifugation (For Insoluble
Solid/Liquid Mixtures):
• Put the mixture in a test tube,
• Place the test tube in the centrifugation
machine,
• Start the machine.
• The centrifugation force will make the mixture
separate into two layers, the liquid at the top,
and solid at the bottom. They are then
separated by decantation.
 SEPARATING LIQUID/LIQUID
MIXTURES

• Separating Funnel (For Immiscible

Liquids):
Immiscible liquids do not mix together; like oil and water.

• If they are put in one container, the denser liquid will settle at the bottom and the lighter one will
go above it.

• To separate and oil and water mixture, we pour the mixture into the separating funnel.

• The water is denser than oil, it settles below it.

• The tap is opened to let the water flow into the beaker.

• The tap is closed when all the water is poured, the beaker is replaced by and empty one and the oil
is now poured.
Separating Funnel
 FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION
• 4) Fractional Distillation:
• Principle: Separation of miscible (dissolved) liquids from each other according to
the difference in their boiling points.
• Apparatus:
• Function of fractionating column:
• It is packed with glass beads which increases its surface area, its function is to
condense back the vapors of un-boiled liquid & allow the vapors of the liquid
whose boiling point has been reached to pass through.
• 1) The liquid with the lowest boiling point separate first and so on and so forth.
• 2) When bp point of one particular liquid is reached then reading on thermometer
becomes constant until it is distilled over. When one liquid is distilled over then
reading on thermometer starts to rise and also droplets in the receiver flask stops
for a while, in this way the student comes to know that one liquid is completely
collected in the receiver flask.
• Importance:
1. Fractional distillation of
petroleum.
2. Fractional distillation of
liquid Air. (explanation
is given in the unit of air
and atmosphere)
FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION OF CRUDE OIL
FRACTIONAL DISTILLATION OF AIR
 Chromatography
• Principle:
• Separation of Dyes/Colors from each other according to their solubility in
the given solvent.
e.g: Paper chromatography
• NOTE:
i. The base line should be drawn with a lead pencil and not with ink pen as the ink pen
itself is a mixture of dyes and would thus produce an inaccurate result.
ii. The solvent rises up against the force of gravity through the pores of chromatogram
and such movement is called capillary action. This type of chromatography is called
Ascending Chromatography.
iii. In descending chromatography, the solvent move downwards. It requires a longer
chromatogram.
iv. The mixture spot should be neither too big nor too small for better separation and
for good result.
v. The solvent is the key factor for any type of chromatography, the solvent which
produce maximum results/separation from the mixture spot will be the right choice of
solvent.
vi. For chromatography to occur, all the dyes present in the mixture spot should be
moderately soluble.
vii. The dye which is the first to separate will be less soluble compared to that which will
separate at the end, in the given solvent.
viii. Formula calculating RF Value
• RF Value =distance travelled by solute/ distance travelled by solvent
 APPLICATION AND ADVANTAGES OF
CHROMATOGRAPHY
• i. It is used to check the purity of a substance; always a pure substance gives one
spot on separation.
• ii. It is used to separate and identify piousness food additive or food colours which
are not recommended by WHO.
• iii. It is used to separate and identify even colourless compounds e.g. amino acids.
Protein is made up of colourless amino acids on separation they are not visible
then a locating
agent (e.g. Ninhydrin solution) is sprayed on chromatogram due to which
different amino acids
becomes visible with different colours which are then compared with the
standard chart of amino
acids hence identified.
• iv. This technique is used by forensic scientists to investigate crimes, from the
incident place samples are collected which are then compared with the samples
collected from suspects if matching occurs then they reach to conclusion.
• v. It is also use to identify piousness insecticides which are not recommended by
WHO.
• vi. Various plants pigments (e.g. chlorophyll etc.) can also by separated by this
technique.