Copper still

4 Types of Distillation to Know About Distillation is a process which isolates a mixture of liquids on the basis of the variations in their boiling points. It is a very helpful method in chemistry, and chemists use the process for purifying a compound, particularly in the refining and petrochemical industry.

Distillation, however, is most famous for the preparation of alcoholic beverages – known as Moonshine distillation. Find out about the 4 main types of distillation techniques.

Simple Distillation Simple distillation is a special method that involves a one-step evaporation followed by recondensation. It is used when two liquids present in the initial combination come with widely varying B.P. Buying a moonshine still of standard nature is enough for this method.

Fractional Distillation This method resembled simple distillation, with the only difference being that the same technique is used in successive cycles. In every cycle, a richer mixture is obtained than what was produced before. This method is needed when the B.P of the liquids present in the actual combination happen to be similar enough to one another to make it impossible for purification of either compound through simple distillation.

Vacuum Distillation In this process, the pressure in a container is lowered. This helps lower the B.P of the liquids present in the mixture and distill the mixture at a far lower temperature. When there is reduction of pressure, the B.P of a liquid tends to drop. This principle is used in the vacuum distillation method. This method is used for liquids which boil at too high temperatures. One has to buy moonshine still of high quality for this process.

Azeotropic Distillation The procedure deals with the distillation of mixtures which can have a lower or higher B.P than any of the components in the mixture. These types of mixtures are referred to as an Azeotrope. Azeotropic distillation consists of not one but three different techniques, regarded together collectively.