Separating Mixtures

Many of the substances we use everyday were actually once part of a mixture. Someone
somewhere separated that substance from the mixture so we could use it. It turns out that
many compounds and elements aren't found in nature in their pure form, but are found as
parts of mixtures. Separating substances from mixtures is an important part of chemistry and
modern industry.

Some important chemistry terms are used in this section including mixtures, suspensions,
and solutions. You can click on the links to learn more about each of them.

Why do we want to separate mixtures?

All the way back to Ancient History, industrious humans have separated mixtures in order to
obtain the specific substances that they need. One example of this is extracting metal from
ore in order to make tools and weapons. We'll discuss some other examples of separation
below.

Separation Processes

The way in which different substances in a mixture are separated is called a process. There
are a number of different processes used for separation. Many of them are very complex
and involve dangerous chemicals or high temperatures. A lot of important industries in the
world today are based on separation processes.

Filtration

One common method of separation is filtration. Filters are used everywhere. We use them in
our houses to filter dust and mites out of the air we breathe. We use them to filter impurities
from our water. We even have filters in our bodies such as our kidneys which act as filters to
get bad stuff out of our blood.

The filtration process is generally used to separate a suspension mixture where small solid
particles are suspended in liquid or air. In the case of filtering water, the water is forced
through a paper that is made up of a very fine mesh of fibers. The water that has been run
through the filter is called the filtrate. The particles that are removed from the water by the
filter are called the residue.

Filtration is a separation method used to separate out pure substances in mixtures

comprised of particles some of which are large enough in size to be captured with a porous
material. Particle size can vary considerably, given the type of mixture. For instance, stream
water is a mixture that contains naturally occurring biological organisms like bacteria,
viruses, and protozoans. Some water filters can filter out bacteria, the length of which is on
the order of 1 micron. Other mixtures, like soil, have relatively large particle sizes, which can
be filtered through something like a coffee filter.

One of the simplest methods used to separate mixtures is filtration. If one of the components is a
liquid and the other is a solid, filtration is as easy as pouring the whole mixture through filter paper.
An everyday example of filtration can be seen in a coffee maker, where the coffee passes through a
paper filter but the grounds do not.

Distillation is an effective method to separate mixtures comprised of two or more pure

liquids. Distillation is a purification process where the components of a liquid mixture are
vaporized and then condensed and isolated. In simple distillation, a mixture is heated and
the most volatile component vaporizes at the lowest temperature. The vapor passes through
a cooled tube (a condenser), where it condenses back into its liquid state. The condensate
that is collected is called distillate.

When one compound is dissolved in another, or when two liquids are mixed together, the most
commonly used method to separate them is distillation. In a distillation, the mixture is slowly heated
over a Bunsen burner or hotplate. Because the components in a mixture have different boiling points,
one of them will boil before the other. The vapor from this compound can be collected from a
condenser, enabling it to be isolated in a pure form. A distillation apparatus is shown in the following
figure.

Another common separation process is called distillation. Distillation uses boiling to separate
mixtures of liquid solutions. It takes into account that different substances in the mixture will
have different boiling points.

For example, if you heat salt water the water in the solution will boil before the salt. The
water will then evaporate leaving the salt behind. If the steam from the water is collected it
will turn back into liquid as it cools. This cooled water will be pure water without any salt.

In the Figure above ,

we see several important pieces of equipment. There is a heat source, a test tube with a
one-hole stopper attached to a glass elbow and rubber tubing. The rubber tubing is placed
into a collection tube which is submerged in cold water. There are other more complicated
assemblies for distillation that can also be used, especially to separate mixtures, which are
comprised of pure liquids with boiling points that are close to one another.
Centrifuge

In some cases, there are suspension

mixtures where the solid particles are too
fine to be separated with a filter. In these
cases, sometimes a centrifuge is used.
Centrifuges are mechanical devices that
spin at very high speeds. These high
speeds allow the solid particles in
suspensions to settle very quickly. For
example, rather than wait for sand to slowly
settle to the bottom of water, a centrifuge
can cause the sand to settle in a matter of
seconds.

Some examples of how centrifuges are used

include separating blood into plasma and The heavier particles move to the outside
red cells, separating cream from milk, and of the cylinder as the centrifuge spins
allowing the mixture to be separated.
separating uranium isotopes for nuclear
power plants.
Chromatography is the separation of a mixture by passing it in solution or suspension or as
a vapor (as in gas chromatography) through a medium in which the components move at
different rates. Thin-layer chromatography is a special type of chromatography used for
separating and identifying mixtures that are or can be colored, especially pigments

At some time or another, all of us have marked our shirt with a pen. Sometimes we get lucky and the
ink doesn't stick well to the fabric—in these cases, we can clean the shirt by putting it in the wash.
Sometimes we get very unlucky and the ink sticks to the fabric so well that it's there for good, no
matter how many times it's washed with bleach and detergent.
In the same way, chemical substances can frequently be separated from one another based on how
well they stick to a solid. The use of this difference in "stickiness" to separate the components of a
mixture is referred to as chromatography.
Typically, chromatography is performed by placing a mixture of two or more chemicals into a glass
column filled with silica. When an organic solvent such as ethyl acetate or alcohol is poured through
the column, one of the components of the mixture will tend to stick to the silica better than the other.
As a result, the less sticky one will pass through the column more quickly, while the stickier one will
take a little longer.

Evaporation is a technique used to separate out homogenous mixtures where there is one
or more dissolved solids. This method drives off the liquid components from the solid
components. The process typically involves heating the mixture until no more liquid remains,
Prior to using this method, the mixture should only contain one liquid component, unless it is
not important to isolate the liquid components. This is because all liquid components will
evaporate over time. This method is suitable to separate a soluble solid from a liquid.

Extraction
Let's say that you have a compound dissolved in a liquid that you want to remove. For example, you
have a small amount of salt dissolved in oil and want to remove it. How would you do this?
Though distillation could do the job, it takes a long time and considerable effort. An alternate way of
making this separation is to find a liquid that isn't soluble with the first liquid and that's better at
dissolving the salt than the oil is. When the two liquids are mixed and shaken, the salt will tend to
move from the oil (where it's not very soluble) into the water (where it is). When this process is
complete, it's a simple matter to pour out the water, leaving behind the pure oil.