උදාහරණයක් ලෙස, consider the distillation of a mixture of ජලය and එතනෝල්. එතනෝල් boils at 78.4 °C while water boils at 100 °C. So, by gently heating the mixture, the most volatile component will concentrate to a greater degree in the vapor leaving the liquid. Some mixtures form azeotropes, where the mixture boils at a lower temperature than either component. In this example, a mixture of 96% ethanol and 4% water boils at 78.2 °C, being more volatile than pure ethanol. For this reason, ethanol cannot be completely purified by direct fractional distillation of ethanol-water mixtures.