3. Direct contact liquid-liquid heat exchange

3.1 Installation and performance

Spray columns have mainly been used as heat exchangers in geothermal energy and for seawater desalination, to avoid scale deposits on the walls of conventional tubular exchangers. Figure 11 shows a schematic diagram of a desalination unit incorporating two liquid-liquid ECDs:

• seawater is heated by direct contact with hot oil;

• steam produced by self-vaporization in expansion chambers is condensed by a shower of fresh water from colder floors;

• the fresh water is then cooled by direct contact with...