Industrial Application

Distillation is defined as a process in which a liquid or vapour mixture of two or

more substances is separated into its component fractions of desired purity, by the
application and removal of heat.
Distillation principles
Separation of components from a liquid mixture via distillation depends on the
differences in boiling points of the individual components. Also, depending on the
concentrations of the components presents, the liquid mixture will have different boiling
point characteristics. Therefore, distillation processes depends on the vapour pressure
characteristics of liquid mixture.
Industries that applies distillation process :
Oil Industries
Food Industries
Petrochemical Industries
Environmental Industries
Pharmaceutical Industries
Alcohol Industries
Oil Industry
Distillation has long been used as the separation process in the chemical and
petroleum industries because of its reliability, simplicity, and low-capital cost. It is
employed to separate benzene from toluene, methanol or ethanol from water, acetone
from acetic acid, and many multicomponent mixtures. Fractionation of crude oil and the
production of deuterium also rely on distillation.

i.

Oil industries
An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial process plant where crude oil is

processed and refined into more useful products.Oil refineries are typically large,
sprawling industrial complexes with extensive piping running throughout, carrying
streams of fluids between large chemical processing units
ii. Food Industries
In countless processes in the food industry, products are isolated and recovered from
solvents by means of precipitation or extraction. Typical distillation examples are:
i.

Manufacture of pectin by precipitation with alcohol

ii. Production of hop extract

iii. Production of egg lecithin
iv. Decaffeination of coffee beans
v.

Reprocessing of miscella

Areas of application of distillation:

i.

Concentration of precipitation alcohol in the manufacture of pectin

ii. Removal of ammonia from ion exchange eluates

iii. Dealcholization of beers with alcohol recovery
iv. Recovery of various solvents from miscella

iii. Petrochemical industries

The main demands set by the chemical industry to suppliers of complete plant
systems are high safety level,consideration for the need to link individual production
stages, maximum plant operating time, the economic use energy and competence in
problem solving.

Areas of application :
i.

Rectification of fatty acid/ methyl ester mixtures

ii. Rectification of caprolactam and glycin

iii. Chloroform / butanol rectification with concentration of resin
iv. Separation of ethanol / phenol from impregnating solvent
v.

Separation of fatty acid esternal/ ethylhexanol mixtures

iv. Environment Industries

Areas of Application:
i.

recovery of trichloroethylene from effluents containing latex.

ii. ammonia stripping and rectification from liquid manure

iii. propene carbonate (CFC-substitute) in the manufacture of printed circuits
iv. recovery of ethanol / acetone from manufacturing effluent
v. Pharmaceutical Industries
The number of solvents handled in this area of applications is particularly large and
the range in plant capacity is considerable. Areas of application of distillation are on :
i.

dimethylacetamide recovery

ii. concentration of residue,

iii. butanol recovery from broth extracts
iv. concentration of antibiotics with methanol recovery.
vi. Alcohol Industries
Raw materials containing starch and sugar are principally used in the manufacture of
bio-alcohol. The alcohol which is produced is used in a wide variety of areas, for
example:
i.

The pharmaceutical industry.

ii. The cosmetics industry.

iii. The beverages industry.

iv. Mixed with petrol as an octane enhancer.
v.

The chemical industry as a source material for basic chemical substances such as
aldehyde, acetic acid and ethyl acetate.

Areas of application for distillation:

i.

Purification of raw alcohol for the production of neutral and fine grade alcohol

ii. Dehydration (absolution) of alcohol

iii. Manufacture of potable alcohol from raw materials containing sugar and starch
iv. Further processing of alcohol into alcohol derivatives such as acetaldehyde, acetic
acid etc.
v.

Combinations of alcohol lines including plants for the manufacture of baker's yeast,
gluten, and glucose