The invention relates to mass transfer apparatus and can be used in alcohol, oil-refining and chemical industries, also wherever for separation of substances are used apparatus for mass transfer and rectification.

Mass transfer apparatus for the alcohol, oil-refining and chemical industries are known, where for separation of substances are used distillation. These devices contain vertical distillate- rectification columns, where the set of plates are located, the purpose of which is to develop contact between the gaseous and liquid phases. The stronger the contact between the phases, the more efficient is the separation of the substances. Between the liquid and the gaseous phases is possible more efficient, high quality contact on the suitable column height. The disadvantage of these devices is that the lower limit of the column height is sharply fixed and it is impossible to develop high quality contact between the phases in the columns below this limit.

The essence of the present invention is that the tornado plate can cause a circular, vortex motion of the fluid accumulated on its surface, which in turn as a result of turbulence, promoting maximum contact between the liquid and the gaseous phases and thus opportunity is given to us to achieve much higher quality contact between liquid and gaseous phases in much lower height columns.

The tornado plate (Fig. 1) is a horizontal circular plane (1) in the center of which is arranged a vertical dischargeable pipe (2) intended for discharging excess fluid, which in turn is connected to the hydraulic lock (3) by lower end. Holes are disposed in a circle on the surface of the plate, into which the nozzles (4) are installed. Nozzles are cylindrical duct details that are designed for changing of the direction of a substance flowing by certain pressure into it. In particular, the nozzles direct horizontally the vertically entered steam flow from bottom to the top, parallel to the plane of the tornado plate. On the (Fig. 2) is shown the direction of the steam movement into the nozzle by the arrows. In addition, horizontal gas steam issuing from the nozzles we can direct from toward the center of the basis of nozzle by the different angles.

(Fig. 3) shows the arrangements and directions of the nozzles on the tornado plate: (1) - vertical discharging pipe; (2) - Nozzles located on the inner circumference; (3) - Nozzles located on the outer circumference; (4) - Tornado plate. The arrows show the directions of the nozzles. The nozzles can be arranged on one circle, two circles, three circles, or one row, two rows, three rows, and so on. They are oriented horizontally and sequentially in a circle, all clockwise or counterclockwise. In specific reviewed case on the (Fig. 3) the nozzles are on two circles, arranged in two rows, and all the nozzles are directed counterclockwise. The nozzles on each circle are arranged at equal angles toward to each other, while the nozzles are shifted on the inner and outer circles at an angle toward to each other. By adding or reducing of the nozzles to each circumference, or changing of the angles directed through the circle, we can change the speed of the tornado rotation or turbulence. The tornado plate works as follows: Consider a specific case on the example of the distilling of the raw material of wine to obtain alcohol. The tornado plate is placed in a vertical cylindrical column (Fig. 4) where the alcohol vapor moves from bottom to top. Condensed liquid coming from the dephlegmator is collected on the level of the upper tube throat of the discharge pipe (2) on the surface of the plate. Since the hydraulic lock (3) is filled with fluid at the bottom of the discharge pipe (2) as a result of the flowing down of the fluid, the hydraulic lock will close. Steam coming from the bottom will start moving in the nozzles at a certain pressure. The steam will pass through the nozzles, change direction from vertical to horizontal, and cause a circular, tornado motion of the liquid accumulated on the plate. The resulting turbulence increases the internal friction of the vapor-liquid mixture, which in turn ensures maximum contact between the gaseous and liquid phases.

Turbulence, on the one hand, facilitates the flowing of the excess fluid into the discharging pipe (2) through centrifietal acceleration, and, on the other hand, facilitates the separation of more volatile alcohol molecules from the mixture and the transition to the upper level. As a result the vapor enriched by alcohol molecules goes up, while the liquid impoverished from alcohol molecules goes down through the discharging pipe.