Patent ID: 7137622

Claim:
A multi-tray distillation unit comprising: at least one contact tray for contacting a gaseous stream flowing upwardly in the unit with liquid passing downwardly through the unit; and at least one separator for de-entraining liquid particles from the gaseous stream after passing through liquid on the contact plate, the at least one separator comprising vertically spaced, parallel tiers of elongated, U-shaped, liquid collector channels arrayed transversely to the flow of the gaseous stream, wherein each tier having parallel rows of collector channels which are staggered vertically from the rows in the next adjacent tier to deflect the flow of the gaseous stream from a lower tier through gaps between adjacent rows in a upper tier, to separate entrained liquid from the gaseous stream and permit the separated liquid to descend into channels of a lower tier for collection, wherein each upper tier channel having at least one rigidly-mounted, horizontally-elongated flow deflector extending downward from the upper tier channel towards a lower tier channel below the deflector, wherein the channels of the lower tier have foraminous extensions in the region between the upper tier and the lower tier, and the channels of an upper tier have downwardly extending deflectors attached to their bottom portions.