Enhanced fluid-liquid contact

Abstract

Apparatus for mass transfer of gas and liquid flowing through passages therein has a vertical enclosure formed in a pair of sheet metal plates sealed together around their periphery and formed to have rows of horizontal passages communicating with columns of vertical passages in and adjacent to a vertical plane defined by flat contiguous areas of the plates between and around the passages. The inner surfaces of the passages have highly wettable areas to substantially maximize transfer of mass and heat. Each horizontal passage is continuous between the vertical passages with which it communicates. In the main portion of the apparatus, the axis of each vertical passage between one horizontal passage and the next lower one passes through the middle of a flat contiguous area between that next lower horizontal passage and the following still lower one and midway between the axes of the two vertical passages on each side of that flat area, so that fluid in the vertical passages divides approximately equally in its vertical flow between each horizontal passage and the next. Vertical passages connecting alternate ends of successive horizontal passages may be added, to provide also a serpentine path for fluid therein. Openings are provided to receive and expel, respectively, fluids that are to be, or have been, absorbed or desorbed. A plurality of the apparatuses may be placed in another enclosure for transfer of heat between them and a fluid flowing through the enclosure or for mass transfer with such fluid.