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The process of water-splitting is a highly endothermic process (ΔH > 0). Water splitting occurs naturally in photosynthesis when the energy of four photons is absorbed and converted into chemical energy through a complex biochemical pathway (Dolai's or Kok's S-state diagrams). [3] O–H bond homolysis in water requires energy of 6.5 - 6.9 eV ...
The addition of a material separation agent, such as benzene to an ethanol/water mixture, changes the molecular interactions and eliminates the azeotrope. Added in the liquid phase, the new component can alter the activity coefficient of various compounds in different ways thus altering a mixture's relative volatility.
Efficient and economical water splitting would be a technological breakthrough that could underpin a hydrogen economy. A version of water splitting occurs in photosynthesis, but hydrogen is not produced. The reverse of water splitting is the basis of the hydrogen fuel cell. Water splitting using solar radiation has not been commercialized.
At an azeotrope, the solution contains the given component in the same proportion as the vapor, so that evaporation does not change the purity, and distillation does not result in separation. For example, 95.6% ethanol (by mass) in water forms an azeotrope at 78.1 °C.
This process occurs naturally in plants photosystem II to provide protons and electrons for the photosynthesis process and release oxygen to the atmosphere, [1] as well as in some electrowinning processes. [2] Since hydrogen can be used as an alternative clean burning fuel, there has been a need to split water efficiently.
Ethanol-water mixtures have less volume than the sum of their individual components at the given fractions. Mixing equal volumes of ethanol and water results in only 1.92 volumes of mixture. [75] [80] Mixing ethanol and water is exothermic, with up to 777 J/mol [81] being released at 298 K. Hydrogen bonding in solid ethanol at −186 °C
In this example, a mixture of 96% ethanol and 4% water boils at 78.2 °C (172.8 °F); the mixture is more volatile than pure ethanol. For this reason, ethanol cannot be completely purified by direct fractional distillation of ethanol–water mixtures. The apparatus is assembled as in the diagram.
A well-known example of a positive azeotrope is an ethanol–water mixture (obtained by fermentation of sugars) consisting of 95.63% ethanol and 4.37% water (by mass), which boils at 78.2 °C. [10] Ethanol boils at 78.4 °C, water boils at 100 °C, but the azeotrope boils at 78.2 °C, which is lower than either of its constituents. [11]