A distillation process that involves a chemical reaction taking place within the distillation column. As with conventional distillation, the reactants and the products are separated by virtue of differing boiling points and are therefore dependent on phase equilibria properties as well as hydraulic behaviour. Reactive distillation can also involve the presence of a catalyst and is known as catalytic distillation. Reactive distillation is used for esterification and etherification amongst other processes where the reaction takes place in the liquid phase. The benefits of reactive distillation include the elimination of product recovery along with the separation and recycling of unconverted reactants.