Patent ID: 7504005

Claim:
Distillation apparatus comprising: an enclosure defining a heating chamber, a condensing chamber, a vapor space above and common to the heating and condensing chambers, and a liquid feed inlet into the condensing chamber, wherein liquid from said feed inlet enters the condensing chamber and is maintained at a level within the condensing chamber; a horizontal tube condenser immersed in the liquid feed within the condensing chamber and having a vapor inlet at an upper end thereof and a distillate outlet at a lower end thereof, wherein vapor condensation within the condenser preheats the liquid feed; a gas sparger disposed to direct gas bubbles upward through the liquid feed in the condensing chamber, wherein the bubbles scrub heat transfer surfaces of the condenser to improve heat transfer between the liquid and the condenser and absorb vapor from the liquid feed; and wherein liquid feed passes through the condensing chamber to the heating chamber and vapor formed in the heating chamber combines with vapor from the gas bubbles in the vapor space and the combined vapors flow through the horizontal tube condenser to condense to produce a distillate, wherein the enclosure is cylindrical and has a vertical axis, wherein the heating chamber comprises a tubular wall arranged coaxially with the vertical axis of the enclosure, and wherein the condensing chamber is disposed annularly about the tubular wall of the heating chamber to form an annular condensing chamber.