Patent attributes
A method and apparatus for vacuum cooling heated viscous and/or high solids mixtures employs at least one cooling tank (1) having inwardly sloping side walls (15) from a top (14) to an opening that is attached to a outlet pump or valve (7) located at the tank bottom, a rotational spreader (8) near the top and at least one vacuum pump (5, 6) to maintain the predetermined vacuum in the tank, and input and output pumps (20, 21). The rotational spreader (8) breaks up the heated viscous and/or high solids mixture (9) and distributes it onto the side walls of the tank to form a film (10) which is cooled as it travels to and slides down the sides to the bottom where the viscous and/or high solids mixture is outputted from the tank by a pump or valve (7, 21, 26). Multiple stages of the apparatus may be employed preferably with progressively greater vacuum pressure in each stage to accomplish even further cooling of the viscous and/or high solids mixtures.
