A fractionating column or fractional column is equipment used in the distillation of liquid mixtures to separate the mixture into its component parts, or fractions, based on their differences in volatility. Fractionating columns are used in small-scale laboratory distillations as well as large-scale industrial distillations.
Giant fractionating column of Arak Oil Refinery manufactured by Machine Sazi Arak (MSA)
Vigreux column in a laboratory setup
Figure 2: Typical industrial fractionating columns
Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixture and the condensation of the vapors in a still.
Distillation equipment used by the 3rd century alchemist Zosimos of Panopolis, from the Byzantine Greek manuscript Parisinus graces.
Hieronymus Brunschwig's Liber de arte Distillandi de Compositis (Strassburg, 1512) Science History Institute
A retort
Old Ukrainian vodka still