destil

Destil is the process of separating and purifying components of a liquid mixture by heating the mixture to form vapor and then condensing the vapor back into liquid. The method relies on differences in boiling points and does not entail a chemical reaction. In simple distillation, the liquid is heated until it boils, the vapor is collected and cooled, and the condensate is captured as a distillate. More complex separations use a fractionating column to increase the number of theoretical plates, improving separation when components have close boiling points. Steam distillation lowers the effective boiling points of volatile compounds by carrying them with steam, and vacuum distillation lowers ambient pressure to reduce boiling points for heat-sensitive materials.

Equipment typically includes a heating source, a distillation flask or still, a condenser to cool vapor, and a receiver for the distillate. A fractionating column may be packed or composed of plates to provide multiple stages of vapor–liquid contact. In industry, distillation columns can be tall and operate under controlled reflux to achieve high purity products. Safety features and proper ventilation are essential due to flammable vapors and high temperatures.

Applications span solvent purification, production of alcoholic beverages and essential oils, fragrance manufacture, and petrochemical refining. Distillation is also used in laboratory analysis and in wastewater treatment. Handling azeotropes and mixtures with strong interactions may require specialized variants such as azeotropic, extractive, or molecular distillation. The technique dates back to ancient times, with early devices such as the alembic; later advances in the 19th century enabled modern fractional distillation and large-scale industrial columns.