Patent ID: 7156377

Claim:
An apparatus for introducing a gas into a liquid and/or degassing thereof, the apparatus comprising: a liquid feed line in fluid communication with a liquid supply, wherein said liquid supply provides a pressurized liquid flow therethrough; an internal nozzle having a stepped reduction therein, wherein a preselected number of steps in the reduction is dependent on a pressure of a motive flow, said internal nozzle attached to said liquid feed line, said internal nozzle having an exit diameter smaller than a diameter of said liquid feed lines, thus causing liquid flowing therethrough to increase velocity and induce hydro dynamics or hydraulic waves, and wherein limiting the length of said internal nozzle beyond the stepped reduction to 1 to 10 times the diameter, dependent on the pressure of the motive flow, creates a splayed stream; a mixing chamber in fluid communication with a vent line, wherein said internal nozzle terminates at said mixing chamber; an exit cylinder in fluid communication with said mixing chamber, said exit cylinder having an entrance face and an exit face, and a channel therebetween, wherein walls of said channel are neither converging nor diverging through which the liquid stream passes, said channel having a diameter 1 to 10 times greater than an exit to said internal nozzle, dependent on the pressure of the motive flow, and wherein an entrance face of said exit cylinder is substantially perpendicular to the flow of liquid from said internal nozzle.