Animated demonstration of the working principles and characteristics of various tower equipment—fractionation tower

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If the liquid formed by the condensation of vapor is distilled again, that is, if another gas-liquid equilibrium is achieved, the vapor produced this time will contain a higher proportion of volatile substances. Similarly, the liquid obtained by condensing this vapor will also have a higher concentration of volatile substances. By using a series of systematic repeated distillations, it is possible to ultimately obtain two liquids with components that are nearly pure. By applying such repeated instances of simple distillation, it is possible to obtain two liquids that are close to pure components, but this method is time-consuming; there are also significant losses during the repeated distillation steps, and the equipment required is complex. Therefore, fractional distillation is usually employed, which involves multiple cycles of vaporization and condensation using a fractionating column. A distillation tower is a chemical equipment used to separate mixed volatile liquids, such as petroleum. Working principle: Within a limited space, the heat exchange area of the liquid phase mixture is increased as much as possible. Mixtures used for distillation are generally organic azeotropes; these azeotropes rise from the reaction vessel to the distillation section once heated. Those with lower boiling points continue to rise. Since the temperature at the top of the tower becomes equal to that of the low-boiling-point substances due to heat transfer from them, the low-boiling-point substances are distilled out. Higher-boiling-point substances, not having reached their corresponding boiling points, are cooled and sent back to the reaction vessel or the lower part of the distillation column. Once all the low-boiling-point substances have been distilled out, the higher-boiling-point substances are distilled one after another, followed by the distillation of the substances with the highest boiling points. Finally, the residue remains at the bottom of the reaction vessel.