Improvements in the Distillation and the Rectification of Alcoholic and other Liquids.
Year: 1886

page_text: Improvements in the Distillation and the Rectification of
Alcoholic and other Liquids.
LOUIS BÉCHAUX, distiller at Porrentruy, in the Helvetic Confederation or
Switzerland, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
The object of my invention is to obtain a continuous process of distilling or
rectifying alchoolic or other liquids with the use of one single apparatus and by
means of a water-bath kept at a nearly constant temperature, the said liquids
remaining for a very short time only into the said apparatus.
It consists of a combination of means illustrated in the accompanying drawing
and which are as follows:
A is a vessel or tank filled with water or any other liquid or fluid substance and
constitutes the water-bath which is intended for raising and keeping at the
required temperature the liquid to be distilled or rectified; the latter circulating
in the flat pipes a, a, a,...., of rectangular sections:
:
It is closed by means of a cover B and can be heated by any means but pre-
ferably by steam. The liquid to be operated upon enters the apparatus through
the pipe C and its progress is indicated by a series of arrows. A pipe D, provided
with a regulating cock p brings the steam into the coil X the latter may be in
contact with the lowest pipe a; the said pipe D is prolonged by a pipe V which is
also provided with a regulating cock m and is connected to a coil U. The object
of the coil U is to heat the volatile liquid contained in the analyser-condenser
vessel K in which are condensed the aqueous vapours.
The coil U is continued by a pipe U1 which is fitted with a cock t and is con-
nected to the coil U. The object of the coil U is to heat the liquid, also volatile.
contained in the analyser-condenser vessel. F of the alchoolic vapours.. The
condensed steam runs out through pipe U. The vessels K, F, are closed and
can be fitted with safety valves; steam and water guages and thermometers.
When it is desirable to send less or no steam at all in the coils U, U¹, the
cock m is more or less shut and the steam and hot water of the coil X are
exhausted through the cock k. The pipe U1 is also fitted with a cock m¹ so that
the heating may be regulated at will,
i
:

page_text: The vapours of the liquid contained in the analyser K are conducted, through
the pipe S into the coil T which is immersed into the liquid contained in the
analyser F; they are condensed and return, through the pipe T into the analyser K.
The liquid contained in the analysers K, F, is composed of water mixed with
ethereal or alchoolic substances, or of any volatile liquid. The cocks v, u, are
intended for the expulsion of the atmospheric air at the beginning of the operation.
In the same manner, the vapours of the alchoolic liquid, etherealized essences, or
water more or less diluted with alchool or etherealized essences, contained in the
analyser F, are led to the coil Z through the pipe Y. The said coil Z is immersed
into the liquid contained. in the condenser E and the vapours which circulate
through it are condensed and return, through the pipe 7, into the analyser F.
The cocks x, z, are used for expulsing the atmospheric air at the beginning of the
operation.
The tank I is filled with cold water which is made to circulate in it at any
desirable speed; it is the refrigerating condenser for the alchoolic vapours; and the
tank G, also filled with circulating cold water, is the refrigerating condenser of the
ethereal vapours.
The water-bath tank A, the analyser-condensers K, F, the refrigerating con-
denser E, the refrigerating condensers I, G, are connected together, as shown in the
drawings by means of various pipes, some of which are fitted with cocks and for
the purposes hereinafter described.
The flat pipes a, a, a, . in which circulates, in a thin layer, the liquid to be
operated upon, are connected together by means of the tubes e, e, e, . . . and in such
a manner as to constitute a vertical plane coil; these flat pipes are isolated from
each other as regards the vapours which are generated, owing to the following
arrangement: a lip h, placed vertical near the tube e, and rising above the lower
end of the latter, constitutes, together with the end of the pipe a a small reservoir f
in which the liquid acts as a hydraulic joint so that the vapours contained if one
A small
pipe are prevented from ascending from a lower pipe into a higher one.
hole is provided at the foot of the lip h so that, in case of stoppage, the liquid
remaining in the reservoirs f, ƒ, ƒ, . can run out and the coils a, a, a, become
perfectly empty.
Any number of water-bath vessels, each containing any number of flat or plane
coils a, a, a, may be employed instead of the single one described.
"
The vapours which are successively generated into each of the pipes a, a, a,
are led to the analysers and refrigerators through the incline pipes b, b, b,
those which are generated at the lowest temperature being conveyed through the
highest tubes. The top tubes b, b,..., at first cross the analyser-condenser F in
which the first alchoolic vapours are condensed and run out through the cocks y, y
and the pipes N N; they then cross the refrigerator. G, in which the ethereal
vapours are condensed and run out through the pipes J, J, which like the majority
of pipes intended for the discharge of liquids or of condensed vapours are fitted
with small pipes 8, 8, ..., intended for the expulsion of the atmospheric air and
can be fitted with small cocks.
The lower tubes b, b, b, ..., convey the vapours of alchool of good taste, and the
lowest ones, the aqueous alchoolic vapours; they first cross the analyser-condenser K
in which the aqueous vapours are condensed; these condensed vapours run out
through the cocks 0, 0, 0, ..., which regulate the alchoolic strength of the dis-
tilled products, and the pipe L; they then cross the refrigerator in which the
alchoolic vapours are condensed and evacuated into either of the tubes M. M, by
means of the two way cocks n, n, n,
The vessel A can be provided with a safety valve R, a water guage q, a pressure
guage P, a thermometer O, and a pipe r, the latter being in communication with a
pressure regulator which maintains, in the water-bath, a constant pressure, securing
thus a constant temperature of the same. The temperature of the water-bath
may be varied and regulated by means of the pressure regulator or of any other
regulator acting on the temperature of the liquid itself,

page_text: The water-bath vessel can be completed by another water-bath at another
temperature and especially when it is desired to more strongly heat the residues
in order to increase the efficiency of the apparatus.
It will be seen, as a result of the above described arrangements, that the more
or less volatile liquids contained in the analysers F, K, are maintained at nearly a,
constant boiling point so that the degree of heat at which the alchoolic vapours
only are to be condensed in the analyser F, and the aqueous vapours only are to
be condensed in the analyser K varies as little as possible. The latent heat arising
from the condensation of these vapours passes, through successive vaporizations,
from the analyser K to the analyser F, and from the latter into the refrigerator E
which can, as well as the refrigerators I, G, be used as a wine-heater by utilizing
the latent heat arising from the final condensations for the heating of the liquid
itself to be operated upon.
The starting and mode of working of the apparatus are clearly described in the
foregoing, and illustrated in the drawing.
It is, however, as well to observe that before the liquid to be operated upon is
admitted into the flat coil of the water-bath A, the analysers F, K, and the said
water-bath A itself may be warmed at the required temperature so that the
operation of distilling begins at the very moment the liquid is introduced into
the apparatus and continues with an apparatus set at the proper point.
The water-bath distillation or rectification apparatus which I have described,
and in which the operation is effected at a very nearly constant temperature which
is of the required degree is possessed of the following advantages the description
of which is characteristic of the means by which they are obtained.
The distillation being effected according to the rational and methodical con-
ditions have been described, the rectification may, in certain cases, become useless.
It is possible, with this same apparatus to obtain, by a first distillation, some
eaux-de-vie of good taste, without going through the process of rectification.
The rectification of the phlegms is conducted so that the essential oils and the
heavy essences run out with the residues, whereas the alchoolic vapours are
generated according to their degree of volatility.
The alchoolic vapours are generated without being, as is the case with a high
temperature boiler, submitted to a long contact with the essential oils and the
heavy essences or having, before being collected, to dabble in these condensed oils
and essences on the trays of a distilling column.
Alchool of good taste is obtained, without any retrogradation, by the distillation
itself and a single analysis of the various alchoolic vapours, result due to the
rational and successive separation of the various vapours according to the order of
their generation.
The distillation of wines or of alchoolic musts, as well as the rectification of the
phlegms give, simultaneously, some products varying as regards to the alchoolic
strength and taste.
The same apparatus can, indifferently, effect: firstly the distillation, and
secondly the rectification of the phlegms be the quantity to be treated a large one
or only a few gallons and the operation may be interrupted at any time and
resumed without any inconvenience.
The apparatus can be made to give separately the products of all the vapours
generated by the distillation even if the complementary vessels E, F, and I, G,
were done away with.
There are no fear of explosions.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
1° The vertical flat coil G, H, the flat pipes of rectangular sections of which
immersed in the water-bath of the tank A which is heated by
steam by means of the coil X, work independently from each other owing to the
α, a, a, ...y

page_text: hydraulic joints formed by the lips at the bottom of tubes e, the said lips being
provided with a small hole at their bases; and the vapours generated in each flat
tube a, a, a, ..., being exhausted through the inclined pipes b, b, b,..., and
successively led into the analysers and the refrigerators, as hereinbefore described
and illustrated.
2° The use, in superposed analysers K, F, themselves surmounted by the.
refrigerator E, of liquids more or less volatile in order to obtain and maintain, in
the said analizers, by means of the coils T and Z the degree of constant tempera-
ture suitable for the analysis of ethereal, àlchoolic or aqueous alchoolic vapours
delivered by the pipes b, b, b,.
3° The coils U, U which are the continuation of the coil X and are placed at
the bottom of the analysers K, F, with the object of heating to ebullition the
volatile liquids contained in these vessels and of obtaining at the very outset of
the operation the normal working of the analysis of the vapours.
4° The combination in the order indicated and with the required accessories
mentioned for the purposes set forth, of a water-bath A with the analyser-
condensers K, F, and the condenser-réfrigerator-wine-heater E, these three vessels
being superposed on the top of each-other, and of the condenser-refrigerators or
wine-heaters I, G, the whole as herein before described and illustrated.
.