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Abstract

A starting solution is concentrated to a desired end solution by contacting the starting solution with a gaseous medium under the conditions that the heat content of the starting solution in contact with the gaseous medium is smaller than the heat content of the medium, and the duration of contacting is such that most of the solution that evaporates does so under conditions of constant enthalpy. When the starting solution is a brine, and the gaseous medium is air whose relative humidity is less than the relative humidity at the air/brine interface, the brine can be sprayed into the air to form a shower of droplets within which heat and vapor transfer take place during the transit time of the droplets in the air. When the ratio of droplets to air is sufficiently small, the heat content of the droplets is much smaller than the heat content of the air. When the temperature of the brine exceeds the wet-bulb temperature of the air, the latent heat flux is greater than the sensible heat flux, and the temperature of the droplets rapidly approaches the wet-bulb temperature of the air as the droplets are cooled by evaporation. Once the wet-bulb temperature at the air/brine surface is substantially equal to the wet-bulb temperature of the air, a different process takes place, wherein the latent heat flux is substantially equal to the sensible heat flux, and the temperature of the brine approaches the temperature of the air without involving a change in enthalpy.

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