Question

Give a brief description of the principles of distillation.

Answer 1

Distilation is used to separate volatile liquid from non volatile impurities or two volatile liquids having significant boiling point difference. When two liquids have different boiling points, they vapourise at different temperatures. The vapors condense and the two liquids are collected separately. For example, chloroform and aniline having boiling points 334 K and 457 K can be separated by distillation. More volatile chloroform vaporizes first and is collected in the receiver. Aniline is left in the distillation flask.