Product Introduction

　　 Heat pump distillation equipment It is a highly efficient and energy-saving separation device based on the principle of “heat pump energy recovery + distillation separation.” At its core, it features an integrated design that combines a distillation column with a heat pump system. The heat pump raises the temperature and pressure of the low-temperature secondary steam from the top of the distillation column, which then serves as the heating source for the reboiler at the bottom of the column, thereby achieving closed-loop energy recovery and recycling. With its key advantages of “low energy consumption, high thermal efficiency, environmental friendliness and emission reduction, and stable operation,” this equipment is widely used in separation and purification processes for binary or multicomponent mixtures in industries such as chemical engineering, petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, and environmental protection. It is particularly well-suited for near-boiling-point, azeotropic systems, or high-energy-consumption distillation scenarios. The tower structure, heat pump type, and process parameters can be customized according to material characteristics (boiling point, relative volatility, corrosivity) and separation requirements (purity, capacity). The single-tower processing capacity ranges from 0.1 t/h to over 100 t/h.

Product Category

　　Depending on the type of heat pump, tower structure, and application scenario, heat pump distillation equipment is mainly categorized as follows:

　　1. Classification by heat pump type

　　 ▪ Vapor-compression heat pump distillation equipment: The compressor is used to compress and raise the temperature of the secondary steam at the top of the tower (temperature increase ranging from 10 to 30℃). This system boasts high thermal efficiency (COP values between 3 and 6) and is the mainstream type in industrial applications, suitable for most distillation scenarios (such as ethanol-water and methanol-water separation).

　　 ▪ Absorption heat pump distillation equipment: The absorption tower utilizes an absorbent (such as a lithium bromide solution) to capture the heat from the steam at the top of the tower, and employs a driving heat source (such as low-pressure steam or waste heat) to upgrade the heat energy. This system is particularly well-suited for scenarios with available waste heat resources, offering low operating costs and outstanding environmental performance.

　 　▪ Jet-type heat pump distillation equipment: A steam ejector is used to mix high-pressure driving steam with low-pressure steam at the top of the tower, thereby increasing the pressure. This design is simple in structure and has low investment costs, making it well-suited for large-scale steam recovery applications involving low-grade steam (such as in distillation units in the petrochemical industry).

　　 ▪ Screw-type / Centrifugal Heat Pump Distillation Equipment: Screw compressors and centrifugal compressors are used respectively. The former is suitable for medium- and small-capacity applications (0.1 t/h to 20 t/h) under medium- and low-pressure conditions, while the latter is ideal for large-scale applications (20 t/h to 100 t/h) with high-pressure requirements.

　　2. Classified by tower structure

　　 ▪ Plate-type tower heat pump distillation equipment: By employing tray internals such as sieve trays, floating valves, and导向 floating valves, this plate-column design boasts high mass-transfer efficiency and large handling capacity, making it well-suited for large-scale continuous production. It is particularly ideal for processing materials containing small amounts of suspended solids or those prone to foaming.

　　 ▪ Packing tower heat pump distillation equipment: Using packing materials such as Pall rings, step rings, and wire mesh packings, this system offers high separation efficiency and low pressure drop, making it ideal for high-purity separations (purity ≥ 99.9%), heat-sensitive materials (such as pharmaceutical intermediates and fine chemicals), or corrosive materials.

　　 ▪ Composite tower heat pump distillation equipment: The lower section is a plate-column section (for coarse separation), while the upper section is a packed-column section (for precise separation). This design balances throughput and separation accuracy, making it suitable for separating complex mixtures (such as the recovery of multi-component organic solvents).

　　3. Classified by process flow

　 　▪ Single-tower heat pump distillation system: A single distillation column paired with a heat pump system features a simple structure and low investment cost, making it suitable for separating binary mixtures (such as acetone-water or isopropyl alcohol-water).

　　 ▪ Multi-tower series heat pump distillation system: Multiple distillation columns share one or more heat pump systems to achieve stepwise separation of multicomponent mixtures, making them suitable for complex systems (such as the recovery of multiple solvents from chemical wastewater).

　 　▪ Heat pump - multi-effect distillation combined system: By combining the energy recovery capabilities of heat pumps with the cascaded utilization advantages of multi-effect distillation, energy consumption is reduced by 60% to 80% compared to conventional single-column distillation. This approach is particularly well-suited for high-energy-consumption, large-scale separation applications such as seawater desalination and solvent recovery in the salt chemical industry.

Performance Features

　　 1. Significant energy-saving effect: By recovering the waste heat from the secondary steam at the top of the tower via a heat pump and replacing conventional steam heating, energy consumption is reduced to only 20%-50% of that required by traditional distillation equipment, with energy savings per ton of product ranging from 60% to 80% (for example, ethanol distillation energy consumption has been reduced from the conventional 800 kWh/t to 200-300 kWh/t).

　 　2. High thermal efficiency: The Coefficient of Performance (COP) of vapor-compression heat pumps can reach 3–6, meaning that for every 1 kWh of electricity consumed, they can recover 3–6 kWh of thermal energy. This results in a significantly higher thermal utilization rate compared to conventional multi-effect distillation.

　　 3. Environmental protection and emission reduction: No steam consumption is required, or steam consumption can be significantly reduced, thereby lowering CO2 and sulfur dioxide emissions from coal- or gas-fired boilers. Condensate can be recycled and reused, with no wastewater pollution, fully complying with environmental protection policies.

　　 4. High separation accuracy: The combination of optimized internal tower components and precise process control enables high-purity separation ranging from 99.5% to 99.99%, meeting the stringent requirements of industries such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, and fine chemicals.

　 　5. Wide compatibility: It can handle binary or multicomponent mixtures with relative volatilities ranging from 0.5 to 10, and is compatible with operating temperatures from ambient to 200℃ and operating pressures from atmospheric pressure up to 1.0 MPa. By customizing materials (such as 304 stainless steel, 316L stainless steel, titanium, and Hastelloy), it can be adapted to handle corrosive substances like acids, bases, and organic solvents.

　　 6. Stable and controllable operation: The heat pump system is linked with the distillation column for coordinated control. Through variable-frequency adjustment of the compressor and automatic control of the reflux ratio, stable operation is achieved even under load fluctuations ranging from 30% to 120%. The equipment features a high degree of automation, reducing the need for manual intervention.

　 　7. Short investment payback period: Although the initial investment is 10% to 30% higher than that of conventional distillation equipment, thanks to a significant reduction in energy consumption and a substantial decrease in operating costs, the investment payback period typically ranges from 1 to 3 years; in some high-energy-consumption scenarios, this period can be shortened to as little as 6 months.

Application scenarios

　　Heat pump distillation equipment, with its core advantages of high efficiency, energy savings, and high separation accuracy, is widely used in the following industries:

　　 1. Chemical industry: Recovery of organic solvents (such as ethanol, methanol, acetone, ethyl acetate, toluene), purification of chemical raw materials (such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, diethylene glycol), separation of azeotropic systems (such as ethanol-water, isopropyl alcohol-water, acetic acid-water), and purification of fine chemical intermediates (such as benzaldehyde, methyl benzoate).

　 　2. Petrochemical Industry: Light hydrocarbon separation (e.g., methane-ethane, propane-butane), gasoline/diesel refining, lubricant base oil purification, and solvent recovery from petrochemical wastewater;

　　 3. Pharmaceutical Industry: Distillation and purification of pharmaceutical intermediates (such as antibiotic side chains and vitamin raw materials); solvent recovery (such as ethanol and isopropyl alcohol recovery in pharmaceutical production); and refining of active pharmaceutical ingredients (such as amino acids and hormone purification).

　　 4. Environmental Protection Industry: Industrial wastewater treatment (such as solvent recovery from high-concentration organic wastewater in chemical industrial parks), resource utilization of waste liquids (such as recovering organic solvents from printing wastewater and coating wastewater), and separation of harmful substances from landfill leachate.

　 　5. Food industry: Distillation and purification of edible alcohol (e.g., alcohol extraction from baijiu and beer), separation of food additives (e.g., refining lactic acid and citric acid), and extraction and purification of natural flavorings (e.g., distillation of essential oils);

　　 6. Other fields: Purification of electronic chemicals (such as electronic-grade isopropyl alcohol and acetone), production of lithium-battery materials (such as purification of electrolyte solvents), small-scale separation experiments in laboratories, and solvent recovery in the new-energy industry (such as treatment of waste liquids from photovoltaic material production).