Laboratory scale vacuum distillation is normally used when liquids that is need to be distilled have high atmospheric boiling points or chemically change at temperatures near their atmospheric boiling points.
There are also temperature sensitive materials which also require vacuum distillation to remove solvents from the mixture without damaging the product.
The other reason vacuum distillation is used is that compared to steam distillation there is a lower level of residue build up. This is very important in commercial applications where heat transfer is produced using heat exchangers.
There are also many laboratory applications for vacuum distillation as well as many different kinds of distillation set-ups and apparatuses.
Rotary Evaporation
Rotary evaporation is a kind of vacuum distillation system used to remove bulk solvents from the liquid being distilled. It is normally used by environmental regulatory agencies for determining the amount of solvents in paint, coatings and inks.
