Solvent distillation

Distillation is the process that occurs when a liquid sample is volatilized to produce a vapor that is subsequently condensed to a liquid richer in the more volatile components of the original sample. Distillation was known to be used by the Babylonians of Mesopotamia. Initially, distillation is believed to have been used to make perfumes.

Solvent distillation is the process of separation that involves the application of heat to separate liquid mixture of two or more substances.

A solvent mixture (spent solvent) is heated to the boiling point of the solvent. The solvent mixture is heated to boiling point and as a vapor its piped away to a new storage container in which is will cool and condense to an almost pure quality. They are liquefied and emerge from the distillation plant as a clean, clear, reusable, reclaimed solvent, called distillate or condensate. Any contaminants – with a different boiling point than the solvent – collect as still bottoms.

Distillation is commonly used in the petroleum industry and in the solvent industry. For instance, distillation is the favored method to separate acetic acid from acetone, benzene from toluene, and methanol and ethanol from water.
Solvent distillation