Patent ID: 8240640

Claim:
A contactor in which an upflow fluid comprising a gas is fed from a lower part of the contactor and a downflow fluid comprising a liquid is fed from an upper part of the contactor so that the gas and the liquid are subjected to countercurrent contacting, the contactor comprising: a first line of cells aligned along flow paths of the upflow fluid and the downflow fluid; a second line of cells aligned along the flow paths, the first line and the second line being disposed next to each other in a manner that the cells of the first line and the cells of the second lines are on different levels so that a cell in a first line is in communication with a cell in the second line that is higher than the cell in the first line and is in communication with a cell in the second line that is lower than the cell in the second line, each of the cells forming a countercurrent contacting space of the upflow fluid and the downflow fluid; a partition wall provided between each of the cells of the first line and a corresponding cell of the second line; a downflow fluid injection hole formed in a lower part of the partition wall of an upper cell so that the downflow fluid blocked by the partition wall is injected from the upper cell into a lower cell that is in communication with the upper cell, the upper cell and the lower cell belonging in different lines of cells; and an upflow fluid flow-in port formed in an upper part of the partition wall that is disposed above a region in which the downflow fluid blocked by the partition wall resides, through the upflow fluid flow-in port the upflow fluid flowing from the lower cell into the upper cell, wherein the downflow fluid injection hole comprises a plurality of openings in the partition wall and stacked in a vertical direction or a plurality of openings extending vertically in the partition wall and stacked in a horizontal direction.