Method for the Ecological and Economic Assessment of Mechanical Vapour Recompression in the WindaB Tool

ABSTRACT Mechanical vapour recompression (MVR) offers a promising route to increase energy efficiency and cut CO 2 emissions in evaporation and distillation processes by recompressing and recycling vapour streams. Yet, standardised tools for early‐stage techno‐economic–environmental evaluation are scarce. This contribution presents a generic assessment approach for MVR, implemented in the Python‐based WindaB tool. In a methanol–water separation case study, we quantify how the reboiler temperature difference (Δ T reb ) drives operational expenditures (OPEX), capital expenditures (CAPEX), payback time and CO 2 ‐equivalent emissions, and we assess sensitivities to discount rates, CO 2 certificate prices and energy mixes. Moderate Δ T reb values combined with low‐carbon utilities deliver both economic and ecological gains. The proposed approach thus provides a robust decision‐support framework for sustainable process design.