Patent ID: 8608841

Claim:
Apparatus for use with a flow of a liquid mixture that is separable by vaporization into a flow of vapor and a depleted flow of liquid, the apparatus comprising a structure which, in use: defines a first volume wherein said liquid mixture is received and separated into said flow of vapor and said depleted flow of liquid; defines a first liquid passage by which said depleted flow leaves the first volume; defines a vapor passage by which said flow of vapor leaves the first volume; defines a second volume to which the vapor passage leads; includes heat and mass transfer apparatus disposed at least in part in the second volume, the heat and mass transfer apparatus: (i) receiving a flow of brine adapted to exothermically absorb one or more components from the vapor; (ii) introducing the flow of brine to the vapor; and (iii) withdrawing heat from the second volume, to produce at least a flow of heat and a flow of brine which is enriched in the one or more components; defines a second liquid passage by which the flow of brine which is enriched in the one or more components leaves the second volume; includes heat movement apparatus for transferring the flow of heat to the first volume to provide for said separation; and wherein the transfer of heat into the first volume is associated with the phase change of a working fluid from a gaseous state into a liquid state; the withdrawal of the heat from the second volume involves the phase change of the working fluid from the liquid state to the gaseous state; in the liquid state, the working fluid flows only by one or more of gravity, convection and wicking; and in the gaseous state, the working fluid flows only by one or more of diffusion and convection; and the heat movement apparatus and part of the heat and mass transfer apparatus are defined by one or more heat pipes, each of said one or more heat pipes having a heat receiving part disposed in the second volume and a heat delivering part disposed in the first volume to provide for said heat transfer.