Initial experimental results on a new single-effect mechanical vapor compression (MVC) system which separates the evaporator from the condenser by employing a rotating disk evaporator were presented. The separated structure is designed to provide enhanced heat transfer, descaling and antiscaling. Specifically, experiments were performed on an evaporator-condenser-separated MVC system with a rated capacity of 1.5 m(3)/day, which has two sets of rotating evaporators. The performance of the system was evaluated under different values of compressor frequency and evaporating temperature. It was shown that the evaporator and condenser pressures fall gradually with increases in compressor frequency under a constant distillate production. It was found that the COP increases with increasing evaporating temperature, and the highest COP obtained was 20.98. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.