In a drum boiler, a steam-water mixture is generated in the boiler tubes that surround the fire.

This mixture
goes to the boiler drum, where there are three stages of separating the water from the steam, using the
density difference. This is not as easy as it sounds because as you go up in temperature and pressure the
density difference between water and steam gets smaller. The resulting steam will then go to a
superheater to get completely dry and gain more temperature. The separated water recirculated to the
boiler to make the trip again.
Drum boilers are also called sub-critical boilers because they have to operate below the critical point of
water to make sure there is a density difference between the steam and water, allowing for separation.
In a once-through boiler, all of the water that enters the boiler is turned to steam. They may be sub-critical
but some can and do operate above the critical point because they do not have to recirculate water.