An entrainer is a substance added to a system to facilitate the separation of components by altering the relative volatility in processes like distillation. It is commonly used in azeotropic distillation to break azeotropes, allowing for the efficient separation of mixtures that would otherwise be difficult to separate due to similar boiling points.

Entrainer

Substance added to a system

Separation of components

Relative volatility is a measure of the ease with which two components in a liquid mixture can be separated by distillation, defined as the ratio of their vapor pressures. A higher relative volatility indicates a greater difference in volatility between the components, making separation more efficient and requiring fewer theoretical plates in a distillation column.

Relative Volatility

Distillation is a separation process that utilizes differences in boiling points to separate components of a mixture into individual substances. It is widely used in both laboratory and industrial settings for purifying liquids or recovering solvents and essential oils from natural sources.

Distillation

Azeotropic distillation is a specialized technique used to separate components of a liquid mixture that form an azeotrope, where the vapor and liquid have the same composition at a specific boiling point. By adding an entrainer, which alters the relative volatilities, this method enables the effective separation of components that are otherwise inseparable by simple distillation.

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