Pressurized vapor cycle liquid distillation

1. A liquid distillation system comprising:

an input for receiving untreated input liquid;

a sump in communication with the input wherein the sump comprising at least one heating element and wherein input liquid is preheated;

an evaporative condenser coupled to the sump for transforming the liquid to vapor and for transforming compressed vapor into a distilled liquid product;

a head chamber for collecting vapor from the evaporative condenser; and

a vapor pump for compressing the vapor, the vapor pump in communication with the head chamber and comprising:

a single continuous internal drive shaft;

at least one intake for axial feeding; and

an eccentric rotor with a fully rotatable housing, the rotatable housing supported by a rotatable housing shaft;

wherein the evaporative condenser comprising a plurality of parallel core evaporator tubes, each tube having a first open end in communication with the sump and a second open end in communication with the head chamber.

2. The liquid distillation system as in claim 1 wherein the rotor further comprises a multiplicity of vanes separated by chambers, each chamber having an exit.

3. A liquid distillation system according to claim 1 wherein the input is coupled to at least one heat source.

4. A liquid distillation system according to claim 1 further comprising an output for collection of distilled liquid product.

5. A liquid distillation system according to claim 1 , the system further comprising a switch selected from the group consisting of a thermostatic switch, a pressure-sensing switch, a thermal transducer and a pressure transducer, for signaling completion of the heating phase and turning off the heating unit.

6. A liquid distillation system according to claim 1 further comprising a heat exchanger for receiving liquid from the input such that heat from at least one source is exchanged with the input liquid.

7. A liquid distillation system according to claim 6 wherein the heat exchanger is a multi-line exchanger for exchanging heat from a number of sources with the input liquid.

8. A liquid distillation system according to claim 1 , the system further comprising a multi-unit filter having at least two units in the input for filtering the liquid before the liquid is received by the evaporative condenser.

9. A liquid distillation system according to claim 8 wherein the filter is a flip-filter.

10. A liquid distillation system according to claim 9 , the system further comprising a mechanism for periodically rotating the flip-filter for back-washing filter units to prevent fouling.

11. A liquid distillation system according to claim 1 further comprising a power source coupled to the system wherein the power source is a clean-burning generator.

12. A liquid distillation system comprising:

a) an input for receiving untreated liquid;

b) an evaporative condenser coupled to the input for transforming the liquid to vapor and for transforming compressed vapor into a distilled liquid product, wherein the evaporative condenser comprising a plurality of parallel core evaporator tubes, each tube having a first open end in communication with a sump and a second open end in communication with a head chamber;

c) a head chamber for collecting vapor from the evaporator;

d) a vapor pump for compressing the vapor, the vapor pump in communication with the evaporative condenser and comprising:

1. an internal drive shaft; and

2. an eccentric motor, and

e) a multi-unit filter having at least two filter units in the input for filtering liquid before it is received by the evaporator.

13. A liquid distillation system according to claim 12 further comprising a diverter whereby at least one filter unit is back-washed by a blowdown stream diverted from the head chamber.

14. A liquid distillation system according to claim 12 further comprising a heat exchanger for receiving input liquid such that heat from at least one of a plurality of sources is added to the input liquid.

15. A liquid distillation system according to claim 14 wherein the heat exchanger is a multi-line heat exchanger for exchanging heat with the input liquid.

16. A liquid distillation system comprising:

a) an input for receiving untreated liquid;

b) an evaporative condenser coupled to the input for transforming the liquid to vapor and for transforming compressed vapor into a distilled liquid product;

c) a head chamber for collecting vapor from the evaporator;

d) a vapor pump for compressing the vapor, the vapor pump in communication with the evaporative condenser and comprising:

1. an internal drive shaft; and

2. an eccentric motor;

e) a multi-unit filter having at least two filter units in the input for filtering liquid before it is received by the evaporator;

f) a diverter whereby at least one filter unit is back-washed by a blowdown stream diverted from the head chamber; and

g) a regulator coupled to the diverter for providing the minimum flow rate blowdown stream from the head chamber necessary to back-wash the at least one filter unit.

17. A liquid distillation system comprising:

a) an input for receiving untreated liquid;

b) an evaporative condenser coupled to the input for transforming the liquid to vapor and for transforming compressed vapor into a distilled liquid product;

c) a head chamber for collecting vapor from the evaporator;

d) a vapor pump for compressing the vapor, the vapor pump in communication with the evaporative condenser and comprising:

1. an internal drive shaft; and

2. an eccentric motor;

e) a multi-unit flip-filter having at least two filter units in the input for filtering liquid before it is received by the evaporator; and

f) a diverter whereby at least one filter unit is back-washed by a blowdown stream diverted from the head chamber.

18. A liquid distillation system comprising:

a) an input for receiving untreated liquid;

b) an evaporative condenser coupled to the input for transforming the liquid to vapor and for transforming compressed vapor into a distilled liquid product;

c) a head chamber for collecting vapor from the evaporator;

d) a vapor pump for compressing the vapor, the vapor pump in communication with the evaporative condenser and comprising:

1. an internal drive shaft; and

2. an eccentric motor;

e) a multi-unit flip-filter having at least two filter units in the input for filtering liquid before it is received by the evaporator;

f) a diverter whereby at least one filter unit is back-washed by a blowdown stream diverted from the head chamber; and

g) a mechanism for periodically rotating the flip-filter at appropriate intervals to prevent fouling.

19. A liquid distillation system comprising:

a) an input for receiving untreated liquid;

b) an evaporative condenser coupled to the input for transforming the liquid to vapor and for transforming compressed vapor into a distilled liquid product;

c) a head chamber for collecting vapor from the evaporator;

d) a vapor pump for compressing the vapor, the vapor pump in communication with the evaporative condenser and comprising:

1. an internal drive shaft; and

2. an eccentric motor;

e) a multi-unit filter having at least two filter units in the input for filtering liquid before it is received by the evaporator; and

f) a heat exchanger for receiving input liquid such that heat from at least one of a plurality of sources is added to the input liquid, wherein the at least one of a plurality of heat sources is selected from the group consisting of a product stream, a blowdown stream, system waste heat, vapor pump waste heat, motor waste heat, exhaust heat from a power source, and an external heat source.

20. A method for distilling in a distillation system a liquid comprising:

a. evaporating untreated input liquid in an evaporative condenser to form a vapor to fill a head chamber;

b. collecting the vapor from the evaporative condenser in the head chamber;

c. compressing the vapor by rotating the vapor in a vapor pump having at least one intake for axial feeding and using a continuous internal drive shaft and eccentric rotor with a fully rotatable housing supported by rotatable housing shaft to produce compressed vapor;

d. condensing the compressed vapor in the evaporative condenser having an internal pressure into a distilled liquid product;

e. measuring total dissolved solid in a blowdown stream from vaporized untreated liquid; and

f. adjusting a source feed rate of the untreated liquid if the total dissolved solid is above a prescribed level.

21. A method of distilling a liquid according to claim 20 , further comprising coupling a clean-burning generator to the system.

22. A method of distilling a liquid according to claim 20 , further comprising eliminating entrained liquid droplets from the vapor in the vapor pump.