Distillation column

A distillation column is a tower-type vapor-liquid contacting device used for distillation, also known as a distillation tower. There are two main types: plate towers and packed towers. According to the operating method, they can be further divided into continuous distillation columns and batch distillation columns. By operation pressure, they are categorized into atmospheric, pressurized, and vacuum. The basic principle of distillation involves multiple partial vaporization and condensation of liquid mixtures, utilizing the characteristic of different volatility of its components (relative volatility, α) to achieve separation. Distillation can be classified according to its operating method into simple distillation, flash distillation, fractional distillation, and special fractional distillation, among others.