Direct contact condenser and separating method

Claim 1

A direct contact condenser including a housing having a partition, a manifold water supply conduit having valves for discharge to opposite sides of the partition, means defining a plurality of showers below the elevation of said partition and through which a gas stream will pass sequentially, each shower receiving water from one side of said partition, means for introducing a gas stream sequentially through said showers, the last shower being provided with temperature sensors, means for controlling water flow from said supply conduit to said last shower in response to the differential of said sensors, and collection means for collecting water from said last shower while preventing the collected water from mixing with water from other showers, and an outlet chamber downstream from said last shower where noncondensible gases collect for subsequent treatment.

Claim 6

A method of separating steam and noncondensible gases from a geothermal steam field comprising the steps of sequentially passing the stream of steam and gases through a plurality of water showers, removing up to about 95% of steam prior to the stream reaching the last shower, measuring the temperature of the water or the stream upstream and downstream from the last shower, collecting noncondensible gases for subsequent treatment, collecting the water from the last shower and independently removing the same so as to prevent mixing with the main body of condensate, feeding water from one side of a partition to the last shower, feeding water from the other side of the partition to the other showers, controlling the flow of water to one or more of the showers as a result of the temperature differential of said measurements.

Claim 7

A method of separating steam and noncondensible gases from a geothermal steam field comprising the steps of sequentially passing the stream of steam and gases through a plurality of water showers, removing up to about 95% of steam prior to the stream reaching the last shower, measuring the temperature of the water or the stream upstream and downstream from the last shower, collecting noncondensible gases for subsequent treatment, collecting the water from the last shower and independently removing the same so as to prevent mixing with the main body of condensate, feeding water from one side of a partition to the last shower, feeding water from the other side of the partition to the other showers, controlling the flow of water to one or more of the showers as a result of the temperature differential of said measurements.