Distillation apparatus

A distillation apparatus for producing distillate from a contaminated liquid, comprising:

• a vacuum chamber having an evaporator-condenser positioned therein, said evaporator-condenser having a plurality of non-porous plates, each of said plurality of non-porous plates having a thickness between 0.1 mm and 0.25 mm, a first surface for facilitating evaporation of the contaminated liquid into a vapor and a concentrate, and a second surface for facilitating condensation of a compressed vapor into a distillate;
• a vapor compressor for extracting the vapor from said vacuum chamber and transferring the compressed vapor back into said vacuum chamber;
• at least one heat exchanger that recovers heat from the distillate and the concentrate exiting said vacuum chamber and preheats incoming contaminated liquid using the recovered heat;
• and
• a heater for further heating the preheated contaminated liquid from said heat exchanger before the preheated contaminated liquid enters said vacuum chamber
• wherein said plurality of non-porous plates have hydrophilic outer surfaces.

A method of producing distillate from a contaminated liquid, comprising the steps of:

• positioning an evaporator-condenser having a plurality of plates within a vacuum chamber, said evaporator-condenser being a rising film or a falling film heat exchanger;
• creating a vacuum in said vacuum chamber;
• pumping a contaminated liquid into a heat exchanger for preheating the contaminated liquid using recovered heat;
• initially heating the preheated contaminated liquid from said heat exchanger before the preheated contaminated liquid enters said vacuum chamber;
• facilitating evaporation of the contaminated liquid into a vapor and a concentrate by contacting the contaminated liquid with a first surface of a plate of said plurality of plates;
• separating the distillate from the contaminated liquid using at least one partition positioned within said vacuum chamber;
• extracting the vapor from said vacuum chamber at a first temperature;
• compressing the extracted vapor and transferring the compressed vapor back into said vacuum chamber at a higher temperature;
• facilitating condensation of the compressed vapor into a distillate with a second surface of a plate of said plurality of plates;
• and
• heating the preheated contaminated liquid within said evaporator-condenser using latent heat released from the compressed vapor.