Hybrid indirect/direct contactor for thermal management of counter-current processes

A hybrid indirect/direct contactor for thermal management of counter-current processes, the contactor comprising:

• a vertical reactor column comprising a top end and a bottom end and comprising a wall defining a stream path between the top and bottom ends of the reactor column;
• an array of interconnected heat transfer tubes within the reactor column, each of the tubes crossing the stream path, and the array forming a continuous heat transfer fluid flow path sealed by the tubes from the stream path;
• a gas flowing up the stream path, around the tubes and exiting the top end of the reactor column;
• a solid sorbent comprising adsorbed water and flowing down the stream path, counter-current to the gas flow, cascading around the tubes, and exiting the bottom end of the reactor column;
• a heat transfer fluid contained within and flowing through the tubes;
• the contactor configured so that as the solid sorbent enters the top of the column, it is heated by contact with both the gas and the tubes, causing evaporation of the water off the sorbent to produce steam, wherein the gas exiting the top end of the column comprises the steam, wherein the evaporation is maintained by continuous heat transfer from the tubes, maintaining the temperature of both the gas and the solid sorbent, and wherein the cascading solid sorbent impinges on the tubes, preventing establishment of a gas boundary that would otherwise restrict heat transfer between the gas and the tubes.