Patent ID: 7156381

Claim:
An apparatus for recovering heat from a heat containing gaseous stream, by transfer of said heat into a liquid medium, said apparatus comprising: (a) a containment vessel having an interior wall, said vessel extending along a central axis and having (i) a hot gas inlet, (ii) a cooled gas outlet; (b) a liquid medium outlet, said liquid medium outlet adapted for removing liquid medium from said vessel; (c) a liquid medium inlet, said liquid medium inlet located between said hot gas inlet of said vessel and said cooled gas outlet of said vessel; (d) in fluid communication with said liquid medium inlet, one or more spray nozzles, said spray nozzles adapted to spray droplets of said liquid medium downward toward said hot gas inlet, and wherein said spray nozzles are sized and shaped to develop a preselected mean droplet size having a terminal velocity from about sixty percent to about ninety five percent of the superficial gas velocity of hot gas traveling upward, such that said droplets fall relative to a fixed reference point from about five percent to about forty percent of the terminal velocity of said droplets; e) a coalescer, said coalescer located adjacent said cooled gas outlet of said vessel, and adapted to coalesce liquid droplets attempting to escape outward through said cooled gas outlet.