System composition System refers to the chemical componets present in the mixture being distilled. The two main groups are binary distillation and multicomponent distillation . Binary distillation is a separation of only two chemicals. Multicomponent distillation is the separation of a mixture of chemicals. A good example is petroleum refining.
Crude oil is a very complex mixture of hydrocarbons with literally thousands of different molecules.
Nearly all commercial distillation is multicomponent distillation. The theory and practice of multicomponent distillation can be very complex. Processing Mode Processing mode refers to the way in which feed and product are introduced and withdrawn from the process. Distillation occurs in two modes, continuous distillation and batch distillation . Continuous distillation is feed is sent to the still all the time and product is drawn out at the same time.