IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EVAPORATION AND CONCENTRATION OF LIQUIDS
Year: 1884

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
I, HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of the Office for Patents, 66 Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EVAPORATION AND CONCENTRATION OF LIQUIDS," to bo
as follows:-
The object of this invention is to effect the evaporation and concentration of
liquids in a more rapid and effectual manner than heretofore.
In carrying out this invention the liquid which it is desired to concentrate by
partial evaporation is dispersed in a tower or chamber in a finely divided state, by
means of an injector or other suitable mechanical contrivance, at the same time
is admitted into the same tower or chamber a constant current of highly heated
gas or air, the contact of which heats and evaporates the liquid. Owing to tho
extreme division of the latter the action is very rapid.
The hot gas passing through the chamber may either come direct from a furnace,
or it may be specially heated in the manner for instance of a hot blast for furnaces.
The choice of either will depend upon the nature of the liquid which is to be
concentrated.
The quantity of liquid to be injected has to be so regulated as to evaporate no
greater portion of the same than is requisite to obtain the degree of concentration
required. Should that concentration be incomplete then the operation may be
renewed.
The hot gas entering the tower or chamber. becomes mixed mechanically with
that portion of the liquid which is not volatilized. Part of the liquid settles in
the tower or chamber and is drained off directly; another portion escapes with the
gas into the condensers or into a chamber filled with coke or punice-stone the
contact of which causes it to separate from the gas. The gas thus freed from
the mechanically adhering liquid still retains that portion of the original liquid
which being more volatile has been evaporated. That portion liquefies again by
degrees as the gases cool and settles in condensers of the usual form, whence it is
drawn off

page_text: The construction of the above named tower or chamber will depend on the liquid
which is to be concentrated therein. When it is uncorrosive such as for instance
mineral oil, the tower or chamber may be made of iron or copper without interior
lining. When corrosive liquids such as for instance sulphuric acid are to be
concentrated the tower has to be constructed on the same plan as that known
under the name of "Glover tower," only smaller and not filled inside with porous
substances. In the case of sulphuric acid, the hot gas may consist of the
suphurous fumes from sulphur or pyrites furnaces together with a separate current
of highly heated air. These mixed with the weak sulphuric acid which is given off
in the tower, may, on being cooled down to the degree of temperature best suited
and usually admitted, be allowed. to re-enter the leaden chamber wherein sulphuric
acid is being formed from sulphurous acid in contact with nitrous fumes air and
steam.
It will be seen from the above description that the essential feature of this
invention consists in presenting a liquid, which has to be concentrated in a state of
extreme division to the action of highly heated gas or air thereby producing
instantaneous evaporation of the more volatile part of the liquid and concentrating
the same.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of the Office for Patents 66 Chancery Lane in the
County of Middlesex Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE EVAPORATION AND CONCENTRATION OF LIQUIDS" 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 this Invention is to effect evaporation and concentration of liquids
in a more rapid and effectual manner than heretofore.
In carrying out this Invention, the liquid which it is desired to concentrate by
partial evaporation, is delivered into a tower or chamber in a finely divided state
by means of an injector or other suitable mechanical contrivance. At the same
time there is admitted into the same tower or chamber a constant current of highly
heated gas or air, the contact of which with the diffused liquid, heats and
vaporizes the same, which heating, owing to the extreme division of the liquid, is
very rapid.
The hot air or gas passed into the chamber may either come direct from a
furnace, or it may be specially heated in the manner, for instance, of a hot blast
for furnaces. The choice of either will depend upon the nature of the liquid which
is to be concentrated.
The quantity of liquid to be injected has to be so regulated as to evaporate no
greater portion of the same than is requisite to obtain the degree of concentration
required. Should that concentration be incomplete, then the operation may be
repeated.
The hot gas or air entering the tower or chamber, becomes mixed mechanically
with a portion of the liquid which is not vaporized. Part of the liquid settles in
the tower or chamber and may be drained off directly, while the vaporized portion
escapes with the gas into the condensers. As the gas cools, the vaporized portion
liquefies, and depositing in the condensers, may be drawn off.
The construction of the tower or chamber employed will depend on the liquid
which is to be concentrated therein.-When the liquid is non-corrosive, such as for
instance mineral oil, the tower or chamber may be made of iron or copper without
interior lining-When corrosive liquids such as sulphuric acid are to be con-
centrated, the tower has to be constructed on the same plan as that known under
the name of "Glover's tower," only smaller, and not filled inside with porous
substances. In the case of sulphuric acid, the hot gas used may consist of the
sulphurous fumes from sulphur or pyrites furnaces, together with a separate current
of highly heated air.
Of the corrosive liquids which have to be concentrated, the most important by
far is sulphuric acid.-I have therefore, in the accompanying drawing, shown
an arrangement of tower for the concentration of that liquid in accordance with
this Invention.
Fig 1 is a vertical section, and
Fig 2 a transverse section, of a cylindrical tower A, built of sand-stone, glazed
bricks, or other suitable material, which will resist the corrosive action of the
liquid intended to be concentrated.
B B is the lenden floor of the tower.-C is a plate of the same metal closing the
top of the tower.-A central opening is cast in this plate to receive the end of a
pipe D, which serves to conduct hot gases from a brimstone or pyrites oven, or hot
gases from a coke furnace.
E is a pipe for conducting highly heated air into the tower, for reinforcing, when
necessary, the heat of the gases from the pyrites oven.
F is an injector consisting of two pipes ff', which meet at right angles to each
other. The pipe conducts hot air at a pressure onto a jet of the liquid to be
concentrated which liquid is supplied to the tower by the dine f¹,

page_text: The hot gas from a brimstone or pyrites oven, entering the tower A by the
pipe D, mingles with the spray of the dispersed liquid, and heats it, for the purpose
of concentrating the same. The hot gas, with a portion of the liquid in suspension,
then escapes by the pipe G, and thence to an ordinary sulphuric acid chamber. In
this pipe there will be a deposit of some of the liquid carried off, and this may be
withdrawn by a small escape pipe. In order, however, the better to retain in the
tower A the unvaporized acid spray, it suffices to fill the lower part of the tower,
say one third of its height, with fragments of quartz, pumice stone, or other
material, which will resist the action of the acid. The acid thus retained
accumulates at the leaden bottom B of the tower, and is drawn off through the
tube b.-The leaden bottom B is cooled by water, which circulates in a jacket H
situate below it.
The outside of the masonry of the tower is coated with thick lead, and
surrounded by a water jacket II, in which a constant circulation is kept up.
In case the hot gas, furnished, as above explained, by the combustion of
brimstone or pyrites, should not yield all the heat needed for concentrating the
requisite quantity of sulphuric acid, then, additionally, atmospheric air, heated by
either of the usual processes, up to, say, 500 degrees Centigrade, is led into the
tower A through the pipe E in requisite quantity to give off the heat needed for
the concentration of the acid.
The sulphurous-fumes mixed with the weak sulphuric acid which is given off in
the tower, may, on being cooled down to the degree of temperature best suited to
the work, be allowed to enter the leaden chamber, wherein sulphuric acid is being
formed from sulphurous acid in contact with nitrous fumes, air, and steam,
When sulphuric acid has to be concentrated in a place where there are no
brimstone or pyrites ovens, then either heated air must be used, or else the hot gas
produced by the combustion of coke or other suitable smokeless combustible, with
or without dilution by cold air. The like arrangement of tower is employed when
concentrating any other liquid, for the production of which, neither brimstone nor
pyrites are being burned.
The draught current needed in the tower A is either obtained by driving a
considerable volume of compressed air through the injector tube f, or by any other
suitable contrivance producing artificial draught.
For concentrating non-corrosive liquids, the general disposition of parts before
described is the same, with this difference, that the concentrating tower or chamber
may be made of metal coated with a suitable material for preventing. the radiation
of the heat.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, as communicated to me from abroad, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The concentration of sulphuric acid and other liquids by dispersing them
into fine spray in a tower or chamber of suitable material, to which is admitted
highly heated gas or air (one or both) in the manner and for the purpose above
described.
4
2. The utilization of the heat from brimstone or pyrites ovens, conjointly or not 4
with atmospheric air, for concentrating the spray of sulphuric acid as herein set
forth.
Dated this 94th day of Dharamsh 1004