Patent ID: 8292272

Claim:
A method for substantially separating water from a liquid mixture including water, the method comprising: directing a flow of a carrier gas through a humidification chamber in at least one humidifier; heating a liquid mixture; spraying the heated liquid mixture over packing material in the humidification chamber where the heated liquid mixture directly contacts the flow of carrier gas to humidify the carrier gas with water evaporated from the liquid mixture, producing a humidified gas flow, wherein the total pressure in the humidification chamber is less than ambient atmospheric pressure; directing the humidified gas flow through a dehumidification chamber in at least one dehumidifier; dehumidifying the humidified gas flow in the dehumidification chamber to condense water from the humidified gas flow, wherein the total pressure in the dehumidification chamber is less than the ambient atmospheric pressure; and collecting the condensed water, wherein the gas flow is extracted from at least one intermediate location in the humidification chamber or in the dehumidification chamber and fed from each extracted intermediate location to a corresponding intermediate location in the dehumidification chamber or in the humidification chamber, respectively, allowing for manipulation of gas mass flows and for greater heat recovery.