The three most commonly used distillation methods are true boiling point distillation, American Society of Testing and Materials (ATSM) Distillation, and Equilibrium Flash Vaporization. Each has its own benefits and drawbacks, but for the most part, the degree of separation between distillation fractions greatly decreases with the order of methods I just mentioned. True Boiling Point distillation consists of at least 100 theoretical plates and boasts a high reflux ratio of 100, making this method great for characterizing crude oils and constituting a significant component of crude. When processing binary mixed crudes, the temperature remains constant until the higher percentage compound is evaporated. Contrary to TBP distillation, ATSM distillation contains zero theoretical plates and has a reflux rate of zero. These characteristics of this method prove that it is perfect for refinery products and property calculations & correlations in distillate fractions. Finally, the least effective and most different from the other two methods, Equilibrium Flash Vaporization heats a flowing feed and separates the liquid and vapor in a flash drum, which is installed between the feed heat exchangers and the atmospheric furnace. Since EFV has the produces the lowest degree of separation, it is mostly used for data collection in finishing operations.