Evaporator with solvent recovery feature.

摘要

An evaporation apparatus (22) includes a vessel (40) defining an opening (52) at the top thereof and forming an evaporation chamber (55) to hold a liquid composition. A condenser assembly (24) is disposed above and hermetically sealed to the vessel (40) and has a wall (63) defining a condensation chamber (66) communicating with the evaporation chamber (55) through the opening (52). An accumulator (62) is provided for receiving liquid condensed on the wall (63), and a drain (65) removes liquid received by the accumulator. A fluid drive (23) is disposed above the condenser assembly (24) and adapted to produce fluid flow downwardly through the condensation chamber (66) and into contact with the liquid composition in the evaporation chamber (55) and then upwardly into the condensation chamber (66). A heating mechanism is provided for heating the liquid composition in the evaporation chamber (55) so as to cause evaporation thereof, and a cooling chamber (69) is provided for cooling the wall (63) so as to produce condensation thereon of vapor included in the fluid flowing upwardly from the evaporation chamber (55). <IMAGE>