We know that any liquid boils when its vapour pressure is equal to the atmospheric pressure. There are certain liquids such as aniline which need very high temperature in order to start boiling. It is quite likely that at such elevated temperatures the molecules may just disintegrate. Therefore, to prevent this, steam distillation is employed. Here, the mixture of organic liquids containing the high boiling liquid say, aniline is mixed with water and heated. On doing so, at a temperature close to but less than 100°C (b.p. of water) the vapour pressure of water equals the atmospheric pressure and it boils. Since, in the mixture, aniline is present in conjugation with water it vapourises and moves out of the mixture. The mixture of water and aniline is separated using a separating funnel. Steam distillation is used extensively in perfumery to separate essential oils.