Two types of distillation are binary and multicomponent. Binary distillation separates two chemicals. An example is the distillation of ethyl alcohol from water. Multicomponent separates a mixture of two or more chemicals. The refining of petroleum is an illustration of this.
Most distillation is multicomponent.
This is an example of a very basic distillation column from Distillation . The reboiler is heated to make the necessary vapor needed for distillation. This heat normally comes from steam. The vapor is then enters the bottom of the vertical shell. In the vertical shell, the liquid components are separated.