How to Use Fractionating to Distill Water

People use distilled water in a number of applications including steam irons, automotive cooling systems and aseptic solutions that hospitals prepare. The EPA says the distilling process "...kills microbes and removes water's natural minerals." According to the website Water Systems Aqua Technology for the 21st Century, "It is so pure that all liquid drug prescriptions are formulated with distilled water." An effective way to distill water is by fractionating, that is, distilling by separating its various components.

Things You'll Need

• Bunsen burner
• Liebig condenser
• Conical flask
• Tripod stand
• Gutter (drain pipe)
• Beaker

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Instructions

• 1

  Pour water into the conical flask. Use the tripod to support the flask while it heats over the Bunsen burner. Bring the water to the boiling point. Use the gutter to catch the water vapor (steam). The water condenses best if you wrap the gutter in something cold. More vapors will collect in the gutter as water travels through the drain pipe. Vapors pass along the length of the tubular column of the gutter where the temperature gets gradually cooler. Fractional distillation occurs as a result of separating the various elements in the water; each has a different boiling point.

• 2

  Allow the water to condense. Distilled water is created as steam resulting from boiling and recondensing. Allow the components or fractions with a higher boiling point to condense on the column and return to the solution. Fractions that have a lower boiling point pass through the column and collect. Connect an end of the Liebig condenser to the pout of the flask. Scientists use Liebig condensers in numerous experiments. One example is the Practical Chemistry organization's experiment about "recovering pure water from a solution using a water condenser."

• 3

  Collect the distilled water. Position the Liebig condenser so it slopes downward slightly. The other end that does not connect to the flask should open directly above the beaker. The beaker (or a similar pot or container) can collect the purified water after it is distilled.