tislausmenetelmään

Tislausmenetelmään, known in English as distillation, is a separation process that exploits differences in the boiling points of components in a liquid mixture. It involves heating the mixture to vaporize the more volatile components, then cooling the vapor to condense it back into a liquid. This condensed liquid, called the distillate, is enriched in the more volatile components, while the remaining liquid, known as the residue, is enriched in the less volatile components. The fundamental principle relies on the vapor pressure of each component, which increases with temperature.

The simplest form of distillation is simple distillation, suitable for separating liquids with significantly different boiling points or for separating a liquid from a non-volatile solute. For mixtures with closer boiling points, fractional distillation is employed, utilizing a fractionating column that provides a large surface area for repeated vaporization and condensation cycles, leading to a more efficient separation. Other variations include steam distillation, used for heat-sensitive compounds, and vacuum distillation, which lowers the boiling points of substances, allowing their distillation at lower temperatures to prevent decomposition.

Distillation is a widely used technique in various industries, including the petroleum industry for refining crude oil into gasoline, kerosene, and other products, in the production of alcoholic beverages, in chemical synthesis for purifying reactants and products, and in laboratories for separating and purifying chemical compounds. The effectiveness of distillation depends on factors such as the difference in boiling points, the efficiency of the equipment, and the desired purity of the separated components.