what are azeotropic mixtures

An azeotropic mixture is a mixture of two or more liquids that displays the same concentration level in the liquid and vapor phase. These mixtures can either have a lower boiling point or a higher boiling point of the components. Azeotropes occur when the fraction of the liquids cannot be altered by distillation. Simple distillation cannot alter their proportions. Azeotropes consist of two, three, or more components. Their mixture can either have a higher boiling point than either of the components or they can have a lower boiling point. There are two types of azeotropes: minimum boiling azeotrope and maximum boiling azeotrope. Azeotropic mixture behavior is important for fluid separation processes.