Question

Why ethanol cannot be purified 96% by weight from its aqueous solution?

Answer 1

Answer:

An aqueous solution of ethanol can very well be separated by means of fractional distillation. This is because, ethanol and water have different boiling points of 78.37 °C and 100 °C respectively. In fact, this technique is used in industries to separate ethanol from water (obtained by fermentation of sugars). So, by heating a mixture of ethanol and water, the more volatile component (ethanol) will concentrate to a larger extent in the vapour that is produced by boiling the liquid mixture. These vapours are then condensed to obtain pure ethanol