The invention provides the use of a clearing gas in the separation of a mixture comprising a light and a heavy component that are difficult to separate. The invention further concerns a process for such a separation, comprising (a) providing a product mixture containing at least a light component and a heavy component, wherein a binary
system of the light component and the heavy component has a Henry's law constant of at least 0.001 mol m−3 Pa−1, and the
boiling point of the light component is at least 30° C. higher than the
boiling point of the heavy component, determined at
ambient pressure; (b) subjecting the product mixture to a
distillation step, wherein the product mixture is heated in a
distillation column to a
distillation temperature at a distillation pressure; (c) feeding a clearing gas at a location below the
feed point of the product mixture; (d) collecting at the top of the distillation column a
product gas containing the light component and the clearing gas; (e) collecting at the bottom of the distillation column a product liquid containing the heavy component.