Method for contacting large volumes of gas and liquid across microscopic interfaces

A method for contacting large volumes of gas and liquid across a multitude of microscopic interfaces, comprising the steps of:

• providing an outer vessel having a central longitudinal axis circumscribed by a non-porous generally cylindrical side wall with first and second ends, and a plurality of elongate tubes within said outer vessel disposed in circumferentially spaced relation having longitudinal axes parallel to and radially spaced from said outer vessel longitudinal axis, each of said tubes having a microscopically porous side wall with an inner surface surrounding a hollow interior and opposed first and second ends, said pressurized gas chamber of said outer vessel divided into a plurality of segregated pressurized gas chambers each having a gas inlet for introducing gas therein, and each of said elongate tubes disposed within a respective one of said pressurized gas chambers;
• introducing a stream of liquid into the first end of selected ones of said plurality of tubes tangential to the inner surface thereof at selected velocities;
• controlling the flow of a thin film of the liquid in a spiral pattern around and along the inner surface of each of said selected ones of said plurality of tubes from said first end to said second end, so as to impose centrifugal accelerations on the liquid on the inner surfaces thereof;
• sparging a gas through the porous side wall of each of said selected ones of said plurality of tubes and through the liquid spiraling therethrough at an overall gas to liquid volumetric flow ratio of up to a maximum rated differential pressure measured across each tube, whereby the overall gas to liquid flow rate is divided into a number of individual transfer units in which the interfacial contact area between gas and liquid is extremely large, whereby highly efficient transport between liquid and gas is achieved.

A method for contacting large volumes of a first fluid of lighter density and a second fluid of heavier density across a multitude of microscopic interfaces, comprising the steps of:

• providing an outer vessel having a central longitudinal axis circumscribed by a non-porous generally cylindrical side wall with first and second ends, and a plurality of elongate tubes within said outer vessel disposed in circumferentially spaced relation having longitudinal axes parallel to and radially spaced from said outer vessel longitudinal axis, each of said tubes having a microscopically porous side wall with an inner surface surrounding a hollow interior and opposed first and second ends, said outer vessel sealed around said first and second ends of said tubes to form a pressurized chamber surrounding said tubes for receiving the first fluid of lighter density;
• introducing a stream of the second fluid of heavier density into the first end of said plurality of tubes tangential to the inner surface thereof;
• controlling the flow of a thin film of the second fluid of heavier density in a spiral pattern around and along the inner surface of each of said plurality of tubes from said first end to said second end, so as to impose centrifugal accelerations on the second fluid on the inner surfaces thereof;
• sparging the first fluid of lighter density through the porous side wall of each of said plurality of tubes and through the liquid spiraling therethrough at an overall lighter density fluid to heavier density fluid volumetric flow ratio of up to a maximum rated differential pressure measured across each tube, whereby the overall lighter density fluid to heavier density fluid flow rate is divided into a number of individual transfer units in which the interfacial contact area between lighter density fluid and heavier density fluid is extremely large, whereby highly efficient transport between the first fluid of lighter density and the second fluid of heavier density is achieved.