distillation

Technique used to purify liquids or to separate mixtures of liquids possessing different boiling points. Simple distillation is used in the purification of liquids or the separation of substances in solution from their solvents – for example, in the production of pure water from a salt solution or the recovery of sodium chloride (table salt) from sea water.

The solution is boiled and the vapours of the solvent rise into a separate piece of apparatus (the condenser) where they are cooled and condensed. The liquid produced (the distillate) is the pure solvent; the substances (the solutes), now in solid form, remain in the distillation vessel.