Distilled Water

Is it possible to have a steam engine that could also distill water?

Fox

 

Well, yes, and no. You couldn't actually use the steam generated for driving the steam engine to condense and drink because it would have a certain amount of oil in it. You could, however, say wrap a number of copper tubing coils around the steam pipe comming out of the steam generator. The steam for the generator would have to be at a pressure of around 100 psi, meaning that it would be much hotter than the normal 212 deg F it takes to boil water. Therefore the water being run into these external coils would get heated above 212 deg F and turn to steam. When condensed, this steam would be pure. This is the way navel vesels for many years have produced drinking water while at sea.

Ron