How can distillation be use to separate air into it's componet gases?

Answer 1

No, distillation is used to separate liquids using their boiling point. If a liquid reaches its boiling point it becomes a gas, which allows it to be separated from a substance that is still liquid at that temperature. Mixtures that are already a gas can't be separated with this method because turning them into a gas won't change anything about the starting situation.

Answer 2

No. Condensation is the process used.

Distillation is done by heating the liquid until the product you want evaporates from it. Cooling air enough to condense all the gases in it will separate the gases out, because they condense at different temperatures.

Answer 3

It isn't.

Let's say I'm a distiller who owns a tank of well-fermented "distiller's beer" that's made from barley and corn, and I want to make whiskey out of it. I know the boiling temperature of ethanol is 78.5 degrees Celsius and the boiling temperature of water is 100 degrees Celsius, so I put the beer in my still, raise the temperature to 80 degrees Celsius, and capture the alcohol vapors as they come out of solution. When I condense these into a liquid, I have the basis for whiskey. (I will then put the whiskey into oak barrels and stick it in an open-sided shelter for many years to develop the whiskey's flavor and color.)

If I want to separate air into its component gases, I do exactly the opposite: I cool air to the point its component gases liquify. I capture the liquids and, normally, leave them as liquids as long as possible because a 100,000-liter tank of liquid oxygen has a LOT more oxygen in it than the same tank full of gaseous oxygen.

Answer 4

Sure. But you'd have to get the air in liquid form first; that basically means cooling it down a whole lot, or putting it under a tremendous amount of pressure. Or both.

Answer 5

By cooling, fractional compression and decompression, destillation at high pressure and low temperature.

Answer 6

Really just depends on the gasses, but if their density is close enough, seperation of gases would be nearly impossible.

Answer 7

yes