Explain detailed process of fractional distillation

Fractional Distillation:It is a process of separation of a chemical mixture whose components have different boiling points.

It is an special type of distillation in which two miscible liquids having different boiling points but closed to each other are separated by fractionating column.

In this process, the the mixture is boiled in a round bottom flask, and the vapors of the boiling solution passes along the fractionating column. The temperature of the column is coolest at the top and gradually increases down as at the bottom it is attached with heating burner. Now, the components with higher boiling points condense first on the column as they are vaporized first and hence after condensing they return to the solution. and the components with lower boiling points further pass through the column and are collected as they are more volatile.

This process is used for separating mixtures like : water and ethanol, or in production of gasoline from crude oil

Air is a homogeneous mixture of different gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, etc. You must have observed oxygen cylinders in hospitals and cylinders of carbon dioxide in cars and buildings. These cylinders are prepared by separating individual gases from the air.

1. Air is first filtered to remove dust particles. Then, it is compressed under high pressure.
2. This compressed air is then passed through a water condenser to decrease its temperature.
3. The cold compressed air is now passed through a separator. Here, carbon dioxide separates as dry ice (solid carbon dioxide). Due to repeated compression, air becomes cold that turns into liquid.
4. The liquid air coming out of the separator is passed through an expansion jet into the distillation column. Here, it is warmed slowly. Liquid nitrogen, having the lowest boiling point of 196ï½C, boils to form liquid nitrogen gas. This gas is collected from the upper part of the column. Argon, having a boiling point of186ï½C, is collected next. Oxygen, having a higher boiling point of 183ï½C, is collected last.