Study of miscibility of liquid mixtures with a critical point: A new experiment for a physical chemistry course

Abstract

This paper describes a new experiment for undergraduate students in physical chemistry. This experiment describes a separation process of liquid-liquid extraction using mixtures with a critical point of miscibility. In this experiment, students will learn how to measure solute concentration, and a new liquid-liquid extraction technique that we called Phase Transition Extraction (PTE). In this experiment, a liquid mixture, together with the solute to be separated, is first heated above its critical temperature, where it forms a uniform solution, and then cooled to the region below the miscibility curve, where it separates. Students will understand that this separation process has the advantage that the resulting separation of the solvents is very rapid. In addition, the extraction speed of it may be 10 times higher than that of the traditional liquid-liquid extraction. The new process is thought of having significant advantages in the extraction of products from fermentation broths, plants, and other natural sources. In this paper, miscibility of binary liquid mixtures of methanol-cyclohexane and acetonitrile-water-toluene will be studied. A two-phase distribution ratio will be determined. Temperature and composition of the liquid-liquid critical point will be determined.