US 4,035,243 A · Method and apparatus for high volume distillation of liquids

Abstract

A method and apparatus for high volume distillation of impure liquid comprises evaporating the impure liquid in an evaporator to form a vapor at a temperature above the freezing point and at or below the boiling point of said liquid at atmospheric pressure and at a pressure corresponding to the evaporation temperature under saturated conditions; compressing said vapor adiabatically; admixing in a mixing chamber the compressed vapor under substantially isobaric conditions directly with hot gases having a temperature sufficiently greater than the temperature of the compressed vapor that the resulting vapor-gas mixture temperature is greater than the temperature of the compressed vapor prior to the mixing; passing the vapor-gas mixture through an expansion engine to motivate the engine and to produce shaft energy, whereby the vapor-gas mixture adiabatically expands and cools; compressing the expanded vapor-gas mixture adiabatically in an independently powered compressor to a predetermined pressure corresponding to a predetermined temperature differential between the compressed vapor-gas mixture and the impure liquid; cooling the vapor-gas mixture in heat transfer relation with the impure liquid whereby the vapor at least partially condenses, transferring sufficient heat to the impure liquid for evaporating the liquid and to form the aforementioned vapor; and collecting the condensed vapor.

Claims68

Dependent claims

A method for high volume distillation of impure liquid comprising the steps of:

(a) evaporating said impure liquid in an evaporator to form a vapor at a temperature above the freezing point and at or below the boiling point of said liquid at atmospheric pressure and at a pressure corresponding to said evaporation temperature under saturated conditions;
(b) compressing said vapor adiabatically;
(c) admixing said compressed vapor under substantially isobaric conditions directly with hot gases having a temperature sufficiently greater than the temperature of the compressed vapor that the resulting vapor-gas mixture temperature is greater than the temperature of the compressed vapor prior to the mixing;
(d) passing said vapor-gas mixture through an expansion engine to motivate said engine and to produce shaft energy, whereby said vapor-gas mixture adiabatically expands and cools;
(e) compressing said expanded vapor-gas mixture adiabatically to a predetermined pressure corresponding to a predetermined temperature differential between said compressed vapor-gas mixture and said impure liquid;
(f) cooling said vapor-gas mixture in heat transfer relation with said impure liquid whereby said vapor at least partially condenses, transferring sufficient heat to said impure liquid for evaporating said liquid and to form a vapor having said temperature and pressure characteristics set forth in subparagraph (a) hereof;
and
(g) collecting said condensed vapor.

5 more elements

A closed system for high volume distillation of impure liquids comprising:

(a) evaporator means, including means for supplying impure liquid feed thereto, for evaporating said impure liquid at a temperature at or below the boiling point of said liquid at atmospheric pressure and at a pressure corresponding to said evaporation temperature under saturated conditions;
(b) first compressor means receiving said vapor from said evaporator means for adiabatically increasing said vapor pressure and temperature;
(c) a mixing chamber for receiving said vapor from said first compressor means;
(d) means for supplying hot gases under pressure to said mixing chamber, said hot gases admixing with and transferring heat directly to said vapor from said first compressor means in said mixing chamber;
(e) expansion engine means motivated by said vapor-gas mixture, said engine being drivingly connected to said first compressor means whereby the work done by said vapor-gas mixture in adiabatically expanding in said expansion engine means is transmitted to said first compressor means;
(f) a second compressor receiving the vapor-gas mixture exhausting said expansion engine means for adiabatically increasing the vapor pressure and temperature thereof;
(g) means for driving said second compressor;
(h) condenser means in heat transfer relationship with said impure liquid feed for receiving said vapor-gas mixture from said second compressor and for at least partially condensing said mixture whereby the heat released by said mixture is transferred to said feed liquid to supply the heat energy necessary for evaporating said feed liquid;
(i) means for recovering condensate from said condenser means;
and
(j) means for removing unevaporated liquid feed from said evaporator means.

8 more elements

A method for high volume distillation of impure liquids comprising the steps of:

(a) evaporating said impure liquid in an evaporator to form a vapor at a temperature above the freezing point and at or below the boiling point of said liquid at atmospheric pressure and at a pressure corresponding to said evaporation temperature under saturated conditions;
(b) compressing said vapor adiabatically;
(c) admixing a portion of said compressed vapor under substantially isobaric conditions directly with hot gases having a temperature sufficiently greater than the temperature of the compressed vapor that the resulting vapor-gas mixture temperature is greater than the temperature of the compressed vapor prior to mixing, said portion comprising from 0 to 99% by volume of said compressed vapor flow;
(d) passing said portion of the vapor-gas mixture through an expansion engine to motivate said engine and to produce shaft energy whereby said vapor-gas mixture adiabatically expands and cools;
(e) admixing the remainder of said compressed vapor directly with said expanded vapor-gas mixture to adiabatically expand said compressed vapor and to form a second vapor-gas mixture at ambient pressure and at a temperature corresponding thereto, said temperature and pressure of the second vapor-gas mixture being greater than that of the expanded vapor-gas mixture exiting said expansion engine and less than that of the remainder of said compressed vapor prior to admixing;
(f) cooling said second vapor-gas mixture in heat transfer relation with said impure liquid whereby said vapor in said mixture at least partially condenses, transferring sufficient heat to said impure liquid for evaporating said liquid and to form a vapor having said temperature and pressure characteristics set forth in sub-paragraph (a) hereof;
and
(g) collecting said condensed vapor.