Laboratory distillation set-up: 1: Heat source 2: Still pot 3: Still head 4: Thermometer/Boiling point temperature 5: Condenser 6: Cooling water in 7: Cooling water out 8: Distillate/receiving flask 9: Vacuum/gas inlet 10: Still receiver 11: Heat control 12: Stirrer speed control 13: Stirrer/heat plate 14: Heating (Oil/sand) bath 15: Stiring means e.g. magnetic follower (shown), anti-bumping granules or mechanical stirrer 16: Cooling bath.

    Distillation is a method of separating chemical substances based on differences in their volatilities in a boiling liquid mixture. Distillation usually forms part of a larger chemical process, and is thus referred to as a unit operation. 

    Commercially, distillation has a number of uses. It is used to separate crude oil into more fractions for specific uses such as transport, power generation and heating. Water is distilled to remove impurities, such as salt from sea water. Air is distilled to separate its components - notably oxygen, nitrogen and argon - for industrial use. Distillation of fermented solutions has been used since ancient times to produce distilled beverages with a higher alcohol content. 

    實驗室蒸餾裝置：1：熱源 2：蒸餾瓶 3：蒸餾瓶頂蓋 4：溫度計/沸點溫度5：冷凝器 6：冷卻水進口 7：冷卻水出口 8：蒸餾物/接收燒瓶 9：真空/氣體入口 10：蒸餾接收器 11：加熱控制器 12：攪拌器速度控制器 13：攪拌器/加熱板 14：熱浴(油或沙) 15：攪拌方法，磁力攪拌、防爆沸石攪拌或機械攪拌 16：冷浴蒸餾是一種根據沸騰液體混合物揮發度差而分離化學物質的方法。蒸餾通常構成一個大的化學工藝的一部分，因而，是一個單元過程。

    蒸餾在商業上有一些使用價值，被用于將原油分離為更多的具有特殊用途(如，交通、動力及加熱)的組分。把水進行蒸餾以除去雜質，如從海水中除去鹽。為了工業用途，進行空氣蒸餾以分離其組分，特別 是氧氣、氮氣和氬氣。古代，人們蒸餾發酵液以產生乙醇含量較高的蒸餾酒。