Setting up a distillation
Picture of the apparatus to be used. The thermowell heating mantle, stir plate, hoses, blocks, and ringstand are community equipment. The glassware is in your lab drawer.
Step 1- Clamp flask securely and add stirring bar video (5 sec)
Step 2- Add your sample to the flask video (10 sec)
Step 3- Put on the 3-way adaptor video (5 sec)
Step 4- Put on the condenser, secure with rubber band video (10 sec)
Step 5- Attach water inlet hose to lower end of the condenser (the end away from the 3-way adapter) video (10 sec)
Step 6- Attach water outlet hose to other arm of condenser and run the hose to the water drain video (10 sec)
Step 7- Under the distilling flask, place a wooden block on the ringstand and put a stir plate on top of the block video (10 sec)
Step 8- Put a heating mantle on top of the stir plate and lower the setup until the distilling flask rests firmly on the bottom of the heating mantle video (10 sec)
Step 9- Put the thermometer adaptor on the thermometer and add it on the 3-way adaptor video (10 sec)
Step 10- Adjust the height of the thermometer so that the entire bulb of the thermometer is below the midline of the 3-way adaptor (even with the lower edge of the side arm is a good height) video (10 sec)
Step 11- Place a collection flask under the end of the condenser. Perhaps this is a graduated cylinder or an Erlenmeyer flask. In future distillations it could be a sample vial or a round-bottom flask on the end of the curved adaptor. video (10 sec)
Step 12- Plug in stir plate and plug in controller to thermowell heating mantle (DO NOT plug heating mantle directly into socket). Turn on water to condenser so that it flows through gently. video (10 sec)
Step 13- Start stirring and turn on power to thermowell heating mantle. DO NOT turn on the heat on the stir plate. The thermowell setting will depend on the boiling point of the sample currently being collected. When distilling a mixture, you might need to turn up the power as higher boiling substances sequentially distill. It is okay to set the thermowell on high at first and turn it down when it starts to boil. video (10 sec)
Notice that the video clips add up to only 2 minutes. If you are organized, you should be able to set up fairly quickly.
During distillation: Slower is better
Finishing distillation: Stop before the distilling flask goes dry. Stop by pulling out the wooden block so that the heating mantle separates from the flask. The heating mantle will stay hot for a half-hour or more after you turn off the heat. Don't disassemble anything until the glassware cools.
