Ethanol Purification from Commercial Alcoholic Beverage (Ginebra

San Miguel) using Fractional Distillation

Quintero, Christian Paul D., Ramos, Jandra Natanie C., Rapacon*, Mark Giane Dave V.,
Recto, Chris Vincent A.
College of Science, University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines

Abstract
Alcoholic Beverages are known to be a mixture of alcohol, water, and other soluble compounds. The
conducted experiment aimed to purify ethanol from commercial alcoholic beverages, specifically Ginebra
San Miguel TM. Twenty-five-mL alcoholic beverage sample was subjected to fractional distillation. Flame
testing of the collected distillate determined the presence of 14.00 mL pure ethanol yielding 56.0 percent
Ethanol from the sample. The additive measurements of the distillate (20.00 mL) and residue (5.00 mL)
accounted for the 0 percent loss of the alcoholic mixture in the process. Fractional distillation, therefore, is
more efficient in purifying ethanol from an alcohol mixture as compared with simple distillation.

I. Introduction
Ethanol and water are the main components of most alcoholic beverages,
although in some very sweet liqueurs the sugar content can be higher than the ethanol
content. Ethanol is present in alcoholic beverages as a consequence of the
fermentation of carbohydrates with yeast. It can also be manufactured from ethylene
obtained from cracked petroleum hydrocarbons. The alcoholic beverage industry has
generally agreed not to use synthetic ethanol manufactured from ethylene for the
production of alcoholic beverages, due to the presence of impurities (IARC, 2004).
Certain species of yeast such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, metabolizes sugar
producing ethanol and carbon dioxide using its enzyme, zymase (Funk & Wagnalls New
World Encyclopedia, 2014). The chemical equation is shown as follows:
C6H12O6 2 CH3CH2OH + 2 CO2

Fermentation is the process of culturing yeast under favorable thermal conditions

to produce alcohol. This process is carried out at around 3540 C (95104 F). The
fermented liquid contains 7 to 12 percent ethanol. Toxicity of ethanol to yeast limits the
ethanol concentration obtainable by brewing; enzymes of the yeast are deactivated at
higher concentrations of ethanol. Higher concentrations up to 95 percent, therefore, are
obtained by fortification or distillation of the aqueous solution. (Smith, 2011).
Ethanol (CH3CH2OH) is the main alcohol present in alcoholic beverages. Ethanol
or ethyl alcohol, is a primary alcohol, with its hydroxyl (OH) group attached to a
primary carbon. Ethanol can be made by fermentation of sugars, and is the alcohol of all
alcoholic beverages. It has a boiling point of 78.5 OC at 1 atm; a melting point (i.e.,
freezing point) of -117.3

C; and completely miscible with water due to hydrogen

bonding of the molecules (Solomons, Fryhle & Snyder, 2014).

On the other hand, water is also one of the primary components of alcoholic
beverages. Water is a colorless liquid that is a polar molecule. It has a boiling point of
100 OC at 1 atm; a melting point (i.e., freezing point) of 0 OC. It is the universal solvent
and the water molecules of water can create hydrogen bonds to other water molecules,
and also with an alcohol, thus, with ethanol. That is the reason why ethanol is soluble in
water (Burdge, 2014).
Ginebra San MiguelTM is the source of sample for the fractional distillation in this
experiment. Ginebra San MiguelTM is a spirit type of alcohol, a dutch-type of gin made
from sugarcane. The sugarcane juice is industrially fermented and distilled to produce
the desired product. The beverage is 40 percent alcohol by volume and is 80 proof. Its

main components are alcohol and water. Some other soluble compounds are also
present such as carbonyl-containing compounds, esters, phenolic compounds, some
acids, and some additive compounds used for the flavoring (Ginebra San Miguel, n.d.).
The process of purifying liquid components from a mixture is called distillation.
Distillation is a process of physically separating a mixture into two or more products that
have different boiling points, by preferentially boiling the more volatile components out
of the mixture. When a liquid mixture of two volatile materials is heated, the vapor that
comes off will have a higher concentration of the more volatile (i.e., lower boiling point)
material than the liquid from which it was evolved. Conversely, if a vapor is cooled, the
less (i.e., higher boiling point) material has a tendency to condense in a greater
proportion than the more volatile material (Kister, 1992).
There are many types of distillation. Distillation of liquids with soluble
components could be done by simple or fractional distillation. If the difference in
volatility, and hence in boiling point, between the two constituents is great, complete
separation may be easily accomplished by a single simple distillation. In addition, the
process of distilling in multiple stages to arrive at a certain level of purity (a higher
concentration of alcohol, for example), is called fractional distillation. Fractional
distillation set-up differs with that of simple distillation set-up with the presence of the
fractionating column (Van Winkle, 1967).
The process of distillation includes the principle of vapor pressure and boiling
point. Vapor pressure is the temperature-dependent partial pressure of water. It is
another property of liquids that depends on the intermolecular forces. Substances that

have high vapor pressures at room temperature are said to be volatile (Burdge, 2014).
Moreover, boiling point is defined as the temperature at which the vapor pressure
equals the external pressure of the atmosphere above it (Solomons, Fryhle & Snyder,
2014).
The relationship of the boiling point and volatility (i.e., vapor pressure) are
inverse. The higher the boiling point of a liquid means vapor pressure is lower than the
liquid with lower boiling point or higher vapor pressure. The component that vaporizes
most readily from a boiling solution is called the most volatile or the lightest. The
component that vaporizes least readily is called the least volatile or the heaviest.
(Hengstebeck, 1961).
In this experiment, the ethanol component will be separated from the alcoholic
beverage using fractional distillation process. The percentage of ethanol present in the
distillate will be calculated using the recorded volume of ethanol. Also, the percent loss
of the alcoholic mixture will be computed. Lastly, a comparison between simple and
fractional distillation processes will be done to determine the relative efficiency of the
two processes.

II. Methodology
For the methodology of the experiment, the materials needed were prepared first.
The Quickfit fractional distillation set-up was assembled. Pear-shaped flask,
fractionating column, still head, pocket thermometer, condenser, adapter and the water
pump were the essential parts for the distillation set-up. The water inlet rubber tubings

were connected to a water-pump that was submerged to cold water. Aside from the setup, 20 calibrated test tubes with 1.0 mL marks were prepared as well. The typical iron
stand and iron clamp for the support mechanism of the glassware were installed.
Bunsen burner was used as the heat source. Lastly, the test sample, commercial
alcohol beverage (Ginebra San Miguel ), boiling chips and an ample amount of
Glycerol were procured from the laboratory technician.
As for the procedure of the experiment, 25 mL of the alcoholic beverage was
measured and was placed inside the pear-shaped flask. Three boiling chips were also
added in the flask. The ample amount of glycerol was placed inside the pocket
thermometer. The flask was clamped in the distillation set-up. After the installment of the
flask, heating was done with the use of the Bunsen burner. The initial temperature was
noted. The heating process was done in circular motion and not directly pointed on the
bottom of the heated flask. Simultaneously with the heating, the distillates were
collected using the calibrated test tubes with exactly 1.0 mL distillate per test tube. Also,
the temperature readings were recorded, parallel with the time every milliliter of distillate
was collected in each single test tube. Collection of the distillates was stopped when the
temperature reached 950 C.
The volume of the distillate was determined by multiplying the number of test
tubes with 1.0 mL. After the computation, distillates contained in each test tube were
separately subjected to flame test. Production and/or non-production of flames were
recorded. Using the data gathered, the volume of ethanol was determined. Upon
determination, percentage of ethanol present was computed. Lastly, the volume of the
residue that remained in the flask was measured using graduated cylinder. Using the

volume of the residue, the percentage loss of the alcohol sample was computed,
afterwards.
III. Results and Discussion
Table 1. Results of fractional distillation of the 25 mL-Ginebra San Miguel and the subsequent
flame testing of the collected distillate. Temperature readings were recorded.

Test Tube/Volume
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Temperature (in OC)

Simple
Fractional*
64.6
29.0-62.0
74.6
67.8
78.4
73.0
80.4
77.6
82.6
80.8
83.7
83.0
85.0
83.8
86.0
84.7
86.7
85.3
87.3
86.7
88.0
88.6
89.0
90.9
90.4
92.8
92.0
94.3
93.5
95.9
94.8
97.6
98.4
98.8
99.0
99.4

Flame Test
Simple
Fractional*
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
-

Table 2. Measurements of the alcohol sample, distillate, ethanol and the residue.

Volume of Sample
Volume of Distillate
Volume of Ethanol
% Ethanol
Volume of Residue
% Loss

Simple
25.00 mL
16.00 mL
16.00 mL
64.00 %
8.10 mL
3.6 %

Fractional*
25.00 mL
20.00 mL
14.00 mL
56.00 %
5.00 mL
0%

120
100
80

Temperature (in oC)

60

Fractional Distillation
40

Simple Distillation

20
0

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Volume of Distillate(in mL)

Figure 1. Volume-Temperature line graph of both simple and fractional distillations conducted by
Groups 7 and 8, respectively.

In the experiment, the fractional type of distillation was used to purify the ethanol
component from the 25-mL sample of Ginebra San Miguel TM. The two main concerns
about the experiment are the composition of the test sample and the mechanism of
distillation used.
The mixture of ethanol and ethanol renders the ethanol to be completely miscible
with water. The ethanol-water mixture of Ginebra TM follows a specific law called Raoults
Law. Raoults law states that the partial pressure of a solvent over a solution is given by
the vapor pressure of the pure solvent times the mole fraction of the solvent in the
solution. Since both ethanol and water are volatile components with ethanol being more
volatile than water, the vapor pressure of the solution is the sum of the individual partial
pressures exerted by the solution components. Also, Raoults law explains why

solutions have lower vapor pressure than pure solvents. Vapor-pressure lowering is due
to smaller difference in entropy between a solution and the gas-phases, relative to the
pure liquid and gas phases. That is, there is a decreased tendency for the solvent
molecules to enter gas phase. The solvent in a solution will always exert a lower vapor
pressure than the pure solvents.
The ethanol-water mixture in the test sample is known to be azeotrope. An
azeotrope or constant boiling mixture is a mixture of two or more liquids whose
proportions cannot be altered by simple distillation. This happens because, when an
azeotrope is boiled, the vapor has the same proportions of constituents as the unboiled
mixture. In line with the azeotropy of the ethanol-water mixture, there is a critical
composition for which the liquid and the vapor compositions are identical. Once this
vapor and liquid compositions are reached, the components cannot be separated at the
given pressure. Specifically speaking, Ginebra TM (i.e., ethanol-water mixture) is a
minimum-boiling or a positive azeotrope. A minimum-boiling azeotrope boils at a lower
temperature than any other ratio of its constituents. Thus, the boiling point of the sample
is actually at 78.2 OC which is a boiling point lower than ethanol (78.5 OC) and water
(100 OC). Indeed, 78.2 C is the minimum temperature at which any ethanol/water
solution can boil at atmospheric pressure.
On the other hand, fractional distillation was the distillation set-up used in the
experiment. Fractional distillation, as mentioned in the first part of the paper, differs with
simple distillation through the presence of the fractionating column. Fractional distillation
uses the concepts of rectification and reflux, a process only possible in fractional
distillation.

First, there is a need to explain the procedure. Boiling chips were added in the
flask together with the sample because these chips aid in faster heating of the sample.
Boiling chips, also called anti-bumping granules, help to fasten the heating process of
the liquid inside the flask. Also, the heating manner was circular because a circular
manner of heating helps in the distribution of heat in the liquid. The distribution of heat
within the flask is through the process of convection. Heating the flask in a steady and
upright manner of the Bunsen burner, however, wouldnt alter the efficiency of the
distillation process. That is, both the boiling chips and the manner of heating affect the
boiling of the sample mixture.
The essential part of the set-up is the fractionating column. It is where the
evaporation phase of the distillation process is mostly observed. Evaporation is a phase
change that transforms a liquid into its gas phase through application of heat.
Application of heat vaporizes liquid and certain intermolecular forces breaks off once the
kinetic energy of the molecules increases. Since the ethanol has lower boiling point
than water, thus, it should be the first one to vaporize. However, since the mixture is an
azeotrope, some water molecules will also vaporize but on minimal extent only because
it has a higher boiling point than water; water is known as less volatile than ethanol.
This is one reason why the last set of distillates (Test tubes 15-20) did not yield any
ethanol because basically it is mainly composed of water and only little or no ethanol
was present at all; the ethanol components were already concentrated on the first set of
distillates (Test tubes 1-14). The ethanol was more concentrated on the first few
minutes, when the temperature was near ethanol boiling point (78.5
reduced every time temperature neared the water boiling point (100 OC).

C) but was

Inside the fractionating column, the series of flash vaporization stages arranges
in a series in such a manner that the products from each stage are fed to adjacent
stages. The vapor produced in one stage is conducted to the stage above and the liquid
to the stage below. In turn, this stage receives the liquid from the stage above and the
vapor from the feed below as its feed material. The concentration of the lower boiling
component, ethanol in this case (i.e., more volatile than water) is being increased in the
vapor from each stage in the direction of vapor flow and decreased in the liquid in the
direction of the liquid flow. Because the ethanol are concentrating in the vapor from
each successive stage, the temperature decreases from stage to stage and reaches the
minimum as the final vapor is produced from the process. Similarly, the temperature
increases along the direction of the flow of the liquid, and the maximum temperature is
reached at the point where the liquid product is withdrawn from the process. Thus, a
temperature gradient is established inside the column, with the upper part is higher in
temperature than the lower stages of the column. The process inside the column is
known as the rectification.
The concept of reflux is attributed in the presence of the condenser. The
condenser is where the condensation takes place. Condensation is the phase change
from gas or vapor in to its liquid state. In the condenser, the cold water is used to cool
the vapor to decrease the kinetic energy of the vapor molecules, so eventually the
molecules aggregate to form small drops of liquids and intermolecular forces starts to
form again between the liquid molecules.
In the condenser, liquid reflux is apparent. The liquid reflux, as it passes from the
condenser, then back to the stage to stage of the column, serves as the liquid absorber

for the ethanol component in the vapor. It aids the fractionating process by
concentrating the water in the vapor and the ethanol in the liquid. That is, it is necessary
to supply a cold water stream to the last stage from which the vapor product is produced
to remove all or part of the latent heat contained in the vapor in the last vapor stage.
The distillates collected were individually placed on calibrated test tubes. The test
tubes were uniformly measured and marked up to 1.0 mL for more precise
measurements of the volume of distillate. Also, if the test tubes were not uniformly
calibrated, it would harder to determine the volume and percent of ethanol present
because there would be a need to separate again the components of the distillate to
purely extract only ethanol.
Moreover, the volume of distillate (20.00 mL) was collected before the
temperature hits 100 OC because temperatures near the boiling point of water would
only vaporize mostly or only water since almost or all the ethanol were already
vaporized and condensed into distillates from test tubes 1 to 14, with the 14 th test tube
having the smallest concentration of ethanol compared with the first 13 distillates.
Otherwise, it would be pointless to perform distillation with temperatures exceeding 100
O

C because in those temperatures, water would be distilled with the absence of another

liquid of different volatility such as the ethanol. There was no loss (0 percent loss) from
the sample because the set-up was sealed properly and measurements were precise.
In addition, glycerol was added in the pocket thermometer. Glycerol is a sugar
alcohol (polyalcohol) with three hydroxyl groups (trihydroxylic compound). Glycerol was
added because it is hygroscopic in nature. Its nature is attributed to its three hydroxyl

groups that could easily bond with water molecules. Thus, glycerol was used to absorb
the liquid, or moist that might come out of the pocket thermometer during the process.
Furthermore, flame test was performed to determine the presence of ethanol
from the distillate. Ethanol is a flammable liquid, thus, a source of ignition or heat will
determine its presence. Also, an ethanol-water solution that contains 40% alcohol by
volume will catch fire if heated to about 26 C and if an ignition source is applied to it.
This is called its flash point; the flash point of pure ethanol is 16.60 C, less than
average room temperature. The flame test showed the presence of 14 mL ethanol,
yielding 56.00 percent ethanol. This volume of ethanol has the same composition as the
azeotrope. The remaining 6.00 mL of distillate were absent or nearly absent of ethanol
because its composition was mainly of water. Initially, the condensate will be close to
the azeotropic composition, but when much of the ethanol has been drawn off, the
condensate becomes gradually richer in water.
Lastly, fractional distillation is more efficient in distillation of alcoholic beverages.
The alcoholic sample contains water and ethanol. These components differ slightly in
their boiling points (less than 25 OC). However, simple distillation does not completely
separate the ethanol from water and the distillate is not pure ethanol. Unlike in fractional
distillation, the ethanol is redistilled in the fractionating column until concentrated
ethanol is produced as distillate.
IV. Conclusion
Ethanol purification from alcoholic beverages such as Ginebra San Miguel TM
could be efficiently done by fractional distillation with the aid mechanism inside the

fractionating column. The distillation yielded 56.00 percent ethanol (14.00 mL ethanol
out of 20 mL distillate) and no loss was recorded. Thus, fractional distillation is more
efficient than simple distillation in producing more concentrated ethanol distillates.
V. References
Burdge, J. (2014). Chemistry (3rd ed.) . New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Chemical Composition of Alcoholic Beverages, Additives and Contaminants.IARC
Monographs, Volume 44. (2004). World Health Organization.
Ginebra San Miguel. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2016, from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginebra_San_Miguel
Hengstebeck, R. (1961). Distillation: Principles and Design Procedures. New York:
Reinhold Publishing Corporation.
Kister, H. Z. (1992). Distillation Design. USA: R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company.
Smith, J. G. (2011). Organic Chemistry (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies,
Inc.
Solomons, T. G., Fryhle, C. B., & Snyder, S. A. (2014). Organic Chemistry International
Student Version (11th ed.). Singapore: John Wiley & Sons Singapore Pte. Ltd.
Van Winkle, M. (1967). Distillation. USA: McGraw-Hill, Inc.
World Almanac Education Group, Inc. (USA). Funk & Wagnalls New World
Encyclopedia. 2014: World Almanac Education Group, Inc.