Enhancing a biorefinery with an optional vapor recompression unit while maintaining the ability to operate without the vapor recompression unit

A method of enhancing a distillery or biorefinery with an option to divert vapors to a vapor recompression unit while maintaining the ability of said distillery or biorefinery to operate without utilizing said vapor recompression unit, wherein said distillery or biorefinery converts biomass into a biofuel or biochemical, and wherein said distillery or biorefinery is configured with one or more distillation units and a steam-generation system, said method comprising:

• (i) introducing a vapor recompression unit to said distillery or biorefinery, wherein said vapor recompression unit is configured to compress distillation vapors exiting said one or more distillation units to generate compressed distillation vapors with an increased boiling point which preserves latent heat of said compressed distillation vapors;
• (ii) retaining said one or more distillation units and said steam-generation system in said distillery or biorefinery;
• (iii) operating said vapor recompression unit for a first period of time, wherein said latent heat from said one or more distillation units is integrated with at least one distinct distillery or biorefinery process step that (a) is not a distillation step and (b) generates a distinctly different vapor stream than said compressed distillation vapors, wherein said compressed distillation vapors are condensed to cascade said latent heat of said compressed distillation vapors to said distinct distillery or biorefinery process step;
• and
• (iv) optionally, not operating said vapor recompression unit for a second period of time.