Azeotropic distillation

Article By:

Doherty, Michael F. Chemical Engineering Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, California.

Last reviewed:October 2019

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.066750

Any of several processes by which liquid mixtures containing azeotropes may be separated into their pure components with the aid of an additional substance (called the entrainer, the solvent, or the mass separating agent) to facilitate the distillation. Distillation is a separation technique that exploits the fact that when a liquid is partially vaporized the compositions of the two phases are different. By separating the phases, and repeating the procedure, it is often possible to separate the original mixture completely. However, many mixtures exhibit special states, known as azeotropes, at which the composition, temperature, and pressure of the liquid phase become equal to those of the vapor phase. Thus, further separation by conventional distillation is no longer possible. By adding a carefully selected entrainer to the mixture, it is often possible to “break” the azeotrope and thereby achieve the desired separation. See also: Azeotropic mixture; Distillation

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