Mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) is an energy recovery process. It involves taking vapor (usually water vapor) at, or a little above, atmospheric pressure and adding energy to it by compression. The result is a smaller volume of vapor, at a higher temperature and pressure, which can be used to do useful work.
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Current
Modern applications are chiefly to industrial processes such as evaporation and distillation. Heat from the condenser, which would otherwise be wasted, can be recovered and used in the evaporation process.
Past
MVR was used in the Cristiani compressed steam system for locomotive transmission. Although it was technically feasible, it failed to become popular because of its complexity.
References
Mechanical vapor recompression Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA