Separation Of Hexane And Toluene Lab Report

Abstract: The purpose of this lab was to separate hexane and toluene from a mixture by collecting fractions of both hexane and toluene through simple distillation. Because hexane and toluene have different boiling points they distill at different times and can be separated easily. We found the refractive index by putting our collected fractions in a refractometer. Once we knew the refractive index we could figure out the percentage of both hexane and toluene in the solution. The first fraction was collected from 66°C to 70°C the temperature then dropped and the rose to 98°C and the second fraction was collected from 98°C - 100°C. The first fraction is mostly hexane because toluene has a higher boiling point than hexane and the lower temperature

In this case hexane and toluene had a difference in boiling range of approximately 30°C. The first fraction contained 86.55% hexane and 13.45% toluene, this occurred because the temperature was not high enough to boil the toluene out of the solution. That is why the first fraction is mostly hexane. The second fraction contained only 10.47% hexane and 89.53% toluene. This occurred because the temperature was high enough to boil toluene and most of the hexane had already been boiled out of the solution. My main source of error was the fact that I was only able to collect two fractions instead of three. I was only able to collect two because I ran out of hexane/toluene solution. Another source of error is that my temperature did not get high enough to boil all of the toluene. Even though I had considerable error my results were not far away from what they should have