Short-path distillation is a technique used to separate liquid mixtures by heating them to their boiling points and then passing them through a series of devices, such as distillation columns, to separate different volatile components. It operates at lower temperatures compared to traditional distillation, reducing thermal decomposition and chemical changes between components. This method is commonly employed to extract petroleum products from natural resources like crude oil or to separate products from chemical reactions. Short-path distillation is regarded as an efficient and rapid separation method, yielding pure products in shorter timeframes.