expelling ammonia from aqeuous solution

[the guy]

'Ammonia in an aqueous solution can be expelled by boiling' - how exactly is this done, how would one do it in a lab?

[CaptainPanic]

It's just distillation. But a particularly stinky one (ammonia vapors are smelly and dangerous! Make sure to read the Ammonia MSDS (click here!) before starting.).

 

So, in the lab, you certainly do it in a fume hood... but you may want to ask for some extra advice.

But I wouldn't know any reason why any ordinary distillation setup would not work.

 

NB: the product will not be anhydrous ammonia. It will contain water vapor, but at a lower concentration than in the liquid phase.

 

The bigger question is: what do you need the ammonia gas for? Do you need to store it (I hope not!)?

[mississippichem]

Make sure to keep the temp as low as you can and still collect ammonia. You want to keep the vapor pressure of water as low as you can.

[the guy]

does it not redissolve in the water when you condense the water?

 

and i don't actually need it for anything i was just reading and was curious

[Mr Skeptic]

If you just want the water, just boil it and you don't need a distillation apparatus (you'll need that much more ventilation though). The distillation apparatus is to capture the more volatile substance, which in this case would be the ammonia.