An improved vacuum distillation system is disclosed for purifying contaminated liquids, such as seawater, brackish water and chemical effluents. In the preferred embodiment, the system includes a vertical separation chamber in which contaminated liquid (e.g., impure water) is boiled and evaporated at a low temperature due to a low pressure created by a vacuum pump; a stack of fan-shaped baffles in the top of the separation chamber that provide a tortuous path for the "distillate vapor", wherein the baffles have downturned lips that trap particulates to prevent them from escaping the separation chamber; a product chamber to which the vapor flows to be condensed; a refrigeration unit having its "cold" coil located inside the product chamber to condense the vapor into pure liquid, wherein the same unit has its "hot" coil located inside the separation chamber to help boil the contaminated liquid; and a funnel underlying the "cold" coil to catch the condensate dripping from it, wherein the funnel guides the product water into a collection area below it and acts as a shield to prevent re-evaporation of the collected water.
A process and device for purifying organically polluted waste water utilizing a primary system and a closed secondary system. The primary system includes a first heat exchanger, a second heat exchanger and a cyclone located between the two heat exchangers. The first heat exchanger evaporates the waste water into a waste water vapor and a waste water sump solution. The heat for evaporating the waste water in the first heat exchanger is obtained primarily from raw water in the secondary system. A second heat exchanger in the primary system condenses the waste water vapor and in the process causes evaporation of raw water in the secondary system. The level of waste water in the primary system is monitored as is an operational parameter in the secondary system. With the data obtained from this monitoring, the drawing off of the waste water sump solution is controlled.
A distillation apparatus includes a distillation unit for distilling feed water. The distillation unit includes an evaporation part, a condensation part and a hydrophobic porous membrane interposed between the evaporation part and the condensation part, which are integrated with one another. A heating unit for heating the feed water and a cooling portion for cooling distillate produced by distillation of the feed water are provided apart from the distillation unit. One or both of the heating unit and the cooling unit are provided with a heat pump. With this construction, an additional heater does not need to be provided, and the distillation unit and both of the heating unit and the cooling unit can be changed in size and performance independently of each other, so that the overall size of the distillation apparatus can be reduced.
A new baffle device for a distiller has a tubular body and a baffle member fixed with respect to such body. The baffle member has a plurality of apertures for stripping dissolved solids from steam passing through the member. The distiller raw water vessel has a steam discharge nozzle and the baffle device extends part way into and is in telescoped engagement with the nozzle. The device is held in place by a retention ring and both the ring and the device are quickly removable from the raw water vessel for easy cleaning of the device and the vessel. The distiller has a condensing platform with a steam receiving port built into it. When the raw water vessel is on the platform in the water-boiling position, the baffle device extends between the nozzle and the port and forms a conduit for steam to flow to the condensing coil.
Process for recovering acetone from used acetylene cylinders in order to make the cylinders disposable as a solid waste. A system is described for effecting the acetone recovery.
A system for the vacuum distillation of contaminated solvents incorporates a tank for holding a liquid contaminated solvent, a heating chamber surrounding the tank for heating the liquid contaminated solvent into an evaporated solvent, a drift elimination and fractionation device for separating contaminants out of the evaporated solvent, a heat exchanger circuit for cooling the evaporated solvent from the drift elimination and fractionation device, a pump circuit connected to receive the evaporated solvent from the drift elimination and fractionation device and to circulate the evaporated solvent through the heat exchanger circuit, and a control circuit connected to at least the heating element and the pump so as to control operation their based on parameters of a solvent selected to be processed. The control circuit includes a plurality of sensors for monitoring operating conditions of at least the tank, the heating chamber and the heat exchanger circuit. The heating chamber is filled with a first heat transfer fluid and has a heating element for generating heat to be transferred to the tank. The heat exchanger circuit has a second heat transfer fluid circulating through it. In operation, the contaminated liquid solvent is evaporated, contaminants from the evaporated solvent are removed, the evaporated solvent is condensed into a clean liquid solvent, and at least the steps of evaporating the contaminated liquid solvent and of circulating the evaporated solvent through a first heat exchanger are controlled by monitoring operating conditions during those steps and conducting the steps based on the monitored operating conditions.
