A system and method for producing substantially anhydrous ethanol, methanol or other volatile chemicals includes: (a) a first distillation stripping column or column set with overhead vapors compressed using mechanical vapor recompression to strip off a weak ethanol overheads; (b) a second distillation rectifying column having a higher operating temperature than the stripping column; (c) a dehydration means in fluid communication with the rectifying column; (d) reboiler for the stripping column which partially condenses the vapor from the mechanical vapor recompression, (e) a trim condenser which completes the condensing of the vapor/liquid mix of the reboiler, (f) a heat recovery circuit which condenses the rectifying column overheads and molecular sieve dry ethanol condenser and (g) a heat exchange to transfer the recovered heat of (f) to the first distillation stripping column reboiler feed.

A sodium carbonate production system for recapturing thermal energy lost during sodium carbonate manufacturing includes a triple effect evaporator apparatus, a thermal energy waste recovery apparatus, and a barometric surface condenser. The thermal energy waste recovery apparatus comprises an ammonia heat exchanger in operational communication with the triple effect evaporator apparatus. An ammonia turbine is in operational communication with the ammonia heat exchanger. An electric generator is in operational communication with the ammonia turbine to produce electricity. An ammonia compressor is in operational communication with the ammonia turbine and the ammonia heat exchanger. The ammonia heat exchanger is in operational communication with the barometric surface condenser.

Process and apparatus ensure high on-stream reliability of a complex that requires a heat pump which is using a compound having a high boiling point, such as xylenes. When the compressor is shutdown, it can be isolated from the distillation column and receiver while the column is allowed to continue to operate with an auxiliary reboiler for constant heat input. The heat pump can be started up and heated to the normal process temperature, so that when the heavy vapor is charged to the heat pump, it does not immediately condense into liquid, causing damage to the compressor.

A unique adaptive method of Mechanical Vapor Re-compression (MVR) to dehydrate abrasive sludge to a dry, sterile state that is nearly moisture free while maintaining extremely high process efficiencies by adaptively tuning the system parameters related to the varying specific plus latent heats of the input feedstream. This Adaptive MVR (AMVR) process is supported by the effective use of a unique method and apparatus for the optimization of the conductive heating process as applied to a range of sludge consistencies.

A distillation device including: a first distillation column having first top, bottom and upper outlets and first upper and lower inlets; a second distillation column equipped with a top condenser and a bottom reboiler, and having second top, bottom and upper outlets and second upper and lower inlets; a vapor recompressor; a heat exchanger; a first supply line supplying a feedstock to the first lower inlet; a first connection line transferring a first bottom flow to the second lower inlet via the heat exchanger; and a second connection line transferring a second top flow to the top condenser via the heat exchanger after passing through the vapor recompressor. The first bottom flow flowing through the first connection line and the second top flow flowing through the second connection line are heat-exchanged in the heat exchanger. A distillation method of a feedstock using the distillation device.

A solid-liquid separation device performs dehydration or deoiling from a treated object using a substance A that is a gas at normal temperature and pressure and is capable of dissolving water and oil when liquefied. The separation device includes a substance B that circulates while generating phase change in a closed system, a compressor that compresses the substance B, a first heat exchanger that condenses substance B and evaporates of the substance A, an expansion valve that decompresses the condensed substance B, a second heat exchanger that evaporates substance B and condenses substance A, and a treatment tank wherein substance A is mixed with the treated object, substance A is evaporated while separated from the liquid in the first heat exchanger, and condensed in the second heat exchanger. The center of gravity of the first heat exchanger is lower than the second heat exchanger in a vertical direction.

We provide an evaporation based method for water recovery from gasification wastewater to achieve zero liquid discharge. Grey water from a gasification system is processed by an evaporation system which recovers >99% of the influent water and generates a solid phase in a crystallizing reactor. The crystallizing reactor converts dissolved solids present as highly soluble species into alternative chemical forms that are amenable to precipitation and removal from the liquid phase to achieve zero liquid discharge.

An apparatus includes an atomizer with a first flow member defining a first flow path and a second flow member defining a second flow path such that a solution and an inlet gas can flow in the first and second flow path to a mixing volume defined by the first flow member. A vane of the second flow member redirects a portion of at least one of a tangential velocity component or a circumferential velocity component of the flow to produce a rotational velocity component therein. The solution and the inlet gas mix within the mixing volume to produce a mixture. A separator is fluidically coupled to the second flow member to receive the mixture. The separator produces a first flow including a vaporized portion of a solvent from the solution and a second flow including a liquid portion of the solvent and a solute from the solution.

A system and method for cleaning of a forced-circulation evaporative crystallizer. The crystallizer is used to produce salt solids and includes a circulation pump, a heat exchanger, a separator, and a vapor processor. Solids deposits accumulate during salt solids production within at least one of the circulation pump, heat exchanger, and separator. A solids deposits metric representative of an amount of the accumulated solids deposits is measured. The solids deposits metric is determined to deviate from a baseline by at least a cleaning threshold. Certain determinations are made based on the solids deposits metric: determining a cleaning mode and at least one of a type of cleaning solution and a duration for which at least one of the circulation pump, heat exchanger, and separator is to be cleaned. At least one of the circulation pump, heat exchanger, and separator is then cleaned in accordance with those determinations.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a desalination system includes a latent heat exchanger, a hydroclone, a compressor, and a quiescent vertical column. The latent heat exchanger is configured to receive saltwater. The latent heat exchanger includes tubes with an interior that are configured to circulate supersaturated brine with suspended salts. The hydroclone is configured to receive a flow from the latent heat exchanger. And, the hydrocodone has a flow that is substantially steam exiting the top and a flow that is substantially liquid exiting the bottom. The compressor that receives at least a portion of the flow that is substantially steam exiting the top of the hydroclone. An output of the compressor recirculating at least a portion of the flow back to the latent heat exchanger.