Solid/liquid separation through liquid vaporization and condensation, and apparatus therefor

A substantially closed module having

• (a) a hollow interior,
• (b) opposed end walls providing an inlet end and an outlet end joined by a single substantially-cylindrical horizontally disposed section defining a substantially-uniform flow path which is circular in cross-section, the end walls being separated by a distance which is at least as great as the diameter of the cylindrical section,
• (c) inlet means for introducing influent into the module at the inlet end,
• (d) vacuum means to vaporize a component of the influent as said influent passes through the inlet means into the hollow module and to maintain saturated vapor of the component virtually uniformly distributed throughout the interior of the module, the vacuum means comprising means to separate said component from other components of said influent,
• (e) discharge means at the inlet end below or downstream of the inlet means to withdraw from the module non-vaporized components of the influent,
• (f) vertically disposed condensing means to condense vapor of the component at the outlet end,
• (g) means to withdraw condensate from the outlet end, and
• (h) means to regulate the influent to replace saturated vapor condensed by the condensing means and thus maintain a "flywheel" effect for the flow of saturated vapor from the inlet means to the condensing means.

A substantially-closed hollow module immersed in liquid medium means to assist in maintaining it at constant temperature, the module having a substantially circular cross-section and a length at least as great as its diameter, having a single chamber with an inlet means and an outlet means at opposite ends, with a substantially unimpaired path extending from the inlet means to the outlet means, with discharge means at the inlet end below or downstream from the inlet means, with condensing means at the outlet end, with means to maintain a substantially constant temperature throughout the chamber, with vacuum means (a) to vaporize a component of influent introduced through the inlet means, (b) to maintain a substantially constant pressure throughout the chamber and (c) to produce and maintain a saturated-vapor atmosphere of the component throughout said chamber at the substantially-constant temperature, and with supplementary means, separate and distinct from the vacuum means, to assist in initiating and/or maintaing flow of the saturated vapor from the inlet means to the condensing means,

• the single chamber providing a flow path for the saturated vapor which is substantially constant in cross-sectional area from the inlet means to the condensing means,
• the condensing means comprising means to radiate heat of condensation to the inlet means and thus to influent introduced therethrough and means to reduce the volume of saturated vapor at the outlet end sufficiently to draw saturated vapor continuously from the inlet end toward the outlet end when influent is continuously introduced through the inlet means.

A substantially-closed module immersed in liquid medium means to assist in maintaining it at constant temperature and having

• (a) a hollow interior,
• (b) opposed end walls providing an inlet end and an outlet end joined by a single substantially-cylindrical section defining a substantially-uniform flow path which is circular in cross-section, the end walls being separated by a distance which is at least as great as the diameter of the cylindrical section,
• (c) inlet means for introducing influent into the module at the inlet end,
• (d) vacuum means to vaporize a component of the influent as said influent passes through the inlet means into the hollow module and to maintain saturated vapor of the component virtually uniformly distributed throughout the interior of the module, the vacuum means comprising means to separate said component from other components of said influent,
• (e) discharge means at the inlet end below or downstream of the inlet means to withdraw from the module non-vaporized components of the influent,
• (f) condensing means to condense vapor of the component at the outlet end,
• (g) means to withdraw condensate from the outlet end, and
• (h) means to regulate the influent to replace saturated vapor condensed by the condensing means and thus maintain a "flywheel" effect for the flow of saturated vapor from the inlet means to the condensing means.

A process for separating a vaporizable and liquifiable component from material having plural components and which comprises:

• continuously introducing the material through an inlet into and simultaneously vaporizing the vaporizable component in an enclosed vaporization zone which provides a substantially constant flow path of circular cross-section from the inlet to a vertically-disposed condenser at opposite ends,
• maintaining said vaporizable component in saturated-vapor form virtually throughout the vaporization zone,
• conducting the saturated vapor laterally at a substantially constant and continuous rate of flow from said inlet to the condenser,
• continuously producing condensate at the condenser end in an amount which substantially corresponds to that of said vaporizable component which is present in material concurrently introduced into said vaporization zone through the inlet.

A process which comprises:

• introducing a vaporizable-component-containing material to the inlet end of a horizontally-disposed chamber of substantially circular cross-section having an inlet end and an outlet end at opposite ends thereof and having a substantially constant flow path,
• vaporizing the vaporizable component on introduction of the material into the chamber to separate said component from other components of the material and to produce a saturated vapor of that component throughout the chamber,
• maintaining the saturated vapor throughout the chamber, continuously conducting the saturated vapor from the inlet end to the outlet end,
• condensing said saturated vapor at a vertically disposed condenser at the outlet end to produce liquid in a purified form and
• withdrawing the purified liquid as condensate from the outlet end at a rate substantially equal to that at which said vaporizable component is introduced into the inlet end of the chamber in the vaporizable-component-containing material.