What is steam distillation and why is it a preferred technique to purify high boiling liquids that are water-insoluble?

Steam distillation is a separation process for temperature sensitive materials and it is used for purification of organic compounds.

The water vapor carries small amounts of the vaporized compounds (water and organic molecules) to the condensation flask. This is preferred technique because allows easy separation of the components by decantation or other suitable methods, because product od distilation is a two phase system of water and the organic distillate.