Explanation:
Azeotrope is defined as a mixture consisting of two liquids which has constant boiling point and a constant composition throughout the distillation.
For example, the boiling point of water is [tex]100^{o}C[/tex] and the boiling point of ethanol is [tex]78.3^{o}C[/tex]. So, a mixture of ethanol and water will act as a binary azeotrope as there are two components.
As the boiling point of this mixture is below the boiling point of either of the two components then it is also a minimum boiling azeotrope.
Thus, we can conclude that distillation of mixtures of ethanol and water cannot increase the ethanol content of the mixture above 95% because this solution boils at a lower temperature than either pure ethanol or pure water. The term which describes this lower boiling mixture is azeotrope.
