Curved Contactor Media for Low-Pressure-Drop Gas–Liquid Exchange
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gas-liquid contactor media face challenges in increasing phase-phase contact surface area while reducing operational costs, particularly due to high pressure drop and liquid hold-up requirements, which are often addressed by manipulating media geometry to enhance wetting but result in increased pressure drop.
Innovation Solution
The development of contactor media with continuous surfaces featuring specific Gaussian and principal curvatures, allowing for increased liquid hold-up and gas-liquid exchange through structured liquid phases using capillary action, thereby reducing pressure drop and operational costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If conventional contactor media is physically manipulated (e.g., thermoformed into corrugated architectures) to enhance wetting, then liquid hold-up is improved, but pressure drop of the gas stream increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies curved surface geometries with specific Gaussian and principal curvatures to the contactor media. The continuous curved surfaces guide liquid flow through capillary action, enhancing liquid hold-up and distribution without requiring high liquid flow rates. This curved geometry allows gas to flow through with reduced resistance, thereby decreasing pressure drop while maintaining effective wetting and mass transfer.
2Quantity of substance
If liquid flow rate is increased to improve wetting of contactor media, then liquid hold-up is improved, but operational costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The contactor media is designed with continuous curved surfaces that utilize capillary action to automatically distribute and retain liquid. The specific Gaussian curvature (Gc) and principal curvature (ki) of the surfaces create capillary forces that draw liquid through the media without requiring external pumping power. This self-service mechanism reduces the need for high liquid flow rates and decreases the energy consumption of pumps, thereby lowering operational costs while maintaining effective liquid hold-up.
3Productivity
If gas flow rate is increased to maintain mass transfer, then productivity is improved, but pressure drop increases
Solution Approach 1:
The continuous curved surfaces with optimized Gaussian and principal curvatures create a streamlined flow path for gas. The curvature geometry reduces turbulence and flow resistance, allowing gas to move through the contactor media at higher flow rates with minimal pressure drop. This enables improved mass transfer productivity without the penalty of excessive pressure drop that would require higher fan power consumption.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The continuous surface geometry enhances liquid hold-up and gas-liquid exchange, providing efficient mass transfer with reduced operational costs by utilizing surface wetting to retain liquid phases effectively.
Implementation Method 1
contactor media with continuous surfaces to structure the liquid phase via surface wetting (e.g., capillary action) which occur in designed regions of curvature
Implementation Method 2
The continuous surface geometry enhances liquid hold-up and gas-liquid exchange, providing efficient mass transfer with reduced operational costs by utilizing surface wetting to retain liquid phases effectively
Data Source
AI summary
A contactor media can include continuous surface segments. The continuous surface segments can define first and second capillary flow paths. A first continuous surface segment can have at least 50% of its surface area follow at least one of: (a) a contour of a first zero-thickness surface having a Gaussian curvature (“Gc”) of −400 mm−2≤Gc<−0.01 mm−2; and (b) a contour of a second zero-thickness surface having at least one principal curvature (ki) of −20 mm−1≤ki<−0.1 mm−1.