Liquid-liquid contacting apparatus

Claim 1

A tray for use in a liquid-liquid contacting apparatus which comprises: (a) a horizontal plate having a circular perforation; (b) a cylindrical vertical collar mounted in said circular perforation by attachment to the horizontal plate and extending through said circular perforation, with an inwardly slanting circular valve seat contoured into an upper open end of the collar and with a vertical passageway extending through the collar from said circular valve seat to a lower open end of the collar; (c) a plurality of spaced horizontal ducts extending radially through the wall of said collar and located at a point below said circular valve seat and exiting said collar at a point above said horizontal plate to provide high velocity streams of rising liquid which will agitate denser liquid retained upon the upper surface of said horizontal plate; (d) a hollow imperforate sphere having a specific gravity greater than 1.0 and a diameter which provides a contacting surface matching the circular vlave seat of the collar, the sphere being positioned above the valve seat; and (e) a retention cage which encloses the sphere, the retention cage being connected to the collar and having an upper surface located a preset distance above the sphere when the sphere rests in the valve seat, with several openings being present in the retention cage, there being no opening in the retention cage large enough for the sphere to pass through.