On-site, controlled waste concentrator and solvent regenerator apparatus

An apparatus for controlled, on-site distillation and removal of non-volatile residues and impurities from a circulating solvent stream in an end use flow circuit for said solvent, said apparatus comprising:

• a generally hollow vessel defining a fluid-receiving chamber including an upper vapor-receiving portion and a lower liquid-receiving stamp portion, said lower sump portion having an associated maximum liquid fill height, an associated minimum liquid fill height and a contaminated solvent entry port disposed below the minimum fill height;
• means for condensing solvent vapors into liquid form solvent disposed in fluid flow communication with said vapor-receiving portion, said condensing means including means for collecting liquid form solvent and for returning a liquid form solvent fraction to the circulating solvent stream;
• a self-scrubbing heat transfer assembly including an elongate, vertically-oriented heating tube having a lower end with a heater rod-receiving opening and an opposed upper end with a discharge opening, and an elongate heater rod having a lower end with a base mounting portion and an opposed upper free end, said heater rod being mounted to said heating tube so that said base mounting portion is releasably, sealingly, mountedly engaged in the rod-receiving opening and the free end of the heater rod is telescopically and generally coaxially received in said heating tube, said heater rod having an outer diameter which is less than an inner diameter of said heating tube thereby defining an annular heat transfer region between the heating tube and the heater rod, means for fluidly connecting said discharge opening to said upper vapor-receiving portion, means for connecting said lower sump portion of said chamber to a lower end portion of said annular heat transfer region, means for introducing contaminated solvent from said circulating solvent stream in said end use flow circuit to said contaminated solvent entry port, means for sensing overflow volume to a waste container, means for sensing when the liquid level in the lower sump portion is at or below said minimum liquid level fill height, means for monitoring the temperature of the liquid in the lower sump portion, means for interactively controlling operation of the apparatus by monitoring the temperature of the circulating liquid form solvent in the sump portion until a pre-determined maximum high temperature value is reached, whereupon a controller is operative to cause the introducing means to introduce:
• new contaminated solvent into said lower sump portion to decrease the temperature of the sump liquid and simultaneously overflow a controlled volume of concentrated non-volatile residues and impurities through an overflow exit port into said waste container, until a maximum waste container volume has been reached, said controller further including means for controlling the heater rod to turn said heater rod from an "on" condition to an "off" condition when a maximum waste container volume has been reached or exceeded, when cold water supply to said condenser is interrupted, and when a minimum liquid fill level sensor indicates that the liquid level has dropped below said minimum fill level.