EXPERIMENT NO- Date:

TERNARY DIAGRAM
(System of three liquids-One pair partially soluble)

AIM: To obtain ternary diagram for a system of acetic acid (C), benzene (A) and
water (B) at room temperature
APPARATUS: Burette, Pipette, Conical flask, Beaker, Measuring flask, etc.
CHEMICALS: Benzene, Acetic acid, Water
THEORY: This is the most common type of system in extraction. The triangular
coordinates are used as isotherms, or diagram at constant temperature.
Liquid C dissolves completely in A and B, but A and B dissolve only to a
limited extent in each other to give rise to the saturated liquid solutions at
L (A-rich) and K (B-rich). The more insoluble the liquids A and B, the
nearer the apexes of the triangle will points L and K be located.

Curve LRPEK is the binodal solubility curve, indicating the change in the
solubility of the A-rich and B-rich phases upon addition of C. Any mixture
outside this curve will be a homogeneous solution of one liquid phase. Any
ternary mixture underneath the curve will form two insoluble, saturated
liquid phases of equilibrium compositions indicating by R (A-rich) and E
(B-rich). The line RE joining these equilibrium compositions is a tie line.
In a relatively few systems the direction of the tie –line slope changes, and

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 one tie line (shown in fig.) will be horizontal. Such system are said to be
solutropic. Point P, plait point, the last of the tie lines and the point where
the A-rich and B-rich solubility curve merge, is ordinarily not at the
maximum value of C on the solubility curve. The percentage of C in
solution E is clearly greater than that in R, and it is said that in this case the
distribution of C favors the B-rich phase. The ratio y*/x is called
distribution coefficient where y* is the equilibrium concentration of C in
B-rich phase and x is the concentration of C in A-rich phase.
PROCEDURE: 1. Prepare a mixture acetic acid and benzene in different proportion and
titrate against water.
2. The end point is marked by appearance of turbidity in the ternary
mixture.
3. Find the weight and weight percentage of the chemicals used.
4. Repeat above steps for the mixture of acetic acid & water with addition
of benzene and water & benzene with addition of acetic acid.
5. Draw the ternary diagram.
GRAPH: Ternary diagram

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OBSRVATIONS:
Room Temperature:
Density of acetic acid:
Density of benzene:
Density of water:

FIGURE:

Figure 1.1 Experimental set-up

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OBSERVATION TABLE:
Solubility data
No. Volume (ml) Weight (g) Total weight % Weight
AA Benzene Water AA Benzene Water (g) AA Benzene Water
1 2 10

2 4 10
3 6 10

4 8 10
5 10 10

6 2 10

7 4 10
8 6 10

9 8 10
10 10 10

CALCULATIONS:
1. Weight of acetic acid (g) = Volume of acetic acid x Density of acetic acid
2. Weight of benzene (g) = Volume of benzene x Density of benzene
3. Weight of water (g) = Volume of water x Density of water
4. Total weight (g) = Weight of acetic acid + Weight of benzene + Weight of water
5. % Weight of acetic acid = [Weight of acetic acid (g)/ Total weight (g)] x 100
6. % Weight of benzene = [Weight of benzene (g)/ Total weight (g)] x 100
7. % Weight of water = [Weight of water (g)/ Total weight (g)] x 100

RESULTS:

CONCLUSION:

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 Cautions:
• Wash/clean the glassware thoroughly to ensure that no traces of water are present.
• Titrate the solution carefully since the end point is appearance of turbidity.

Questions:
• What is the importance of the Ternary diagram?
• List out the characteristic of the Ternary diagram.
• Identify the dispersed phase in this experiment.
• Comment: Can we add KMnO4 in this experiment?

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