What is distillation used for?

Distillation is a simple process that is used to separate pure liquids from liquid mixtures. Because distillation relies on boiling away liquid substances, only mixtures with substances with distinctively different boiling points can be effectively separated.

The simplest form of distillation is to separate a liquid mixture of two substances. The mixture is heated to the boiling point of one of the substance with the lowest point. That substance will then vaporize, which can be funneled through a tube and collected again after condensing. Eventually, both of the substances will have their own container. In some cases, distillation can achieve a very high level of purity.