US20070189114A1

US20070189114A1 - Multi-chamber supercavitation reactor

Info

Publication number: US20070189114A1
Application number: US11/679,665
Authority: US
Inventors: Roland Reiner; Peter Geigle; Herma Glockner; Frank Thurmer
Original assignee: Crenano GmbH
Current assignee: Crenano GmbH
Priority date: 2004-04-16
Filing date: 2007-02-27
Publication date: 2007-08-16
Also published as: BRPI0509924A; EP1735020A1; WO2005105167A1; US8163714B2; DE102004019241A1; US20070179117A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a device for the molecular integration or disintegration of solid, liquid and/or gaseous flowing, entrained and/or countercurrent components by means of cavitation in order to modify, build or disintegrate molecular compounds. The invention allows to obtain stable mixtures from immiscible or difficult-to-mix components or to separate such mixtures. The supercavitation molecular reactor allows to build up or disintegrate or modify, with low expenditure in terms of energy, even complex compounds that so far have not been accessible to modification and/or production or only by very extensive multiple processes and a large amount of technical complexity.

Description

A device for the molecular integration and disintegration of solid, liquid and/or gaseous through-flowing, entrained and/or counter-flowing components by means of cavitation in order to modify, build or disintegrate molecular compounds. The invention offers the possibility of obtaining stable mixtures from immiscible or difficult-to-mix components or to separate such mixtures. Complex compounds which so far could be modified or produced either not at all, or only by very complex multiple processing and with high technical cost and complexity, can also be built, disintegrated or modified by means of the present supercavitation molecular reactor with very low expenditure in terms of energy.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION/PRIOR ART

The invention relates to a device for the molecular integration and disintegration of solid, liquid and/or gaseous through-flowing, entrained and counter-flowing components by means of cavitation. Thereby, a hydrodynamic cavitation field is built up in a reactor, preferably a through-flow reactor.
Cavitative through-flow reactors in which the cavitation fields are generated by ultrasound are known from the prior art. Depending on the number and arrangement of the ultrasound generators, supercavitation fields, that is, a plurality of superposed cavitation fields, which considerably improve the effect, can also be built up by these reactors. They are used to disintegrate molecular compounds, e.g. harmful substances, or to integrate new molecular compounds. Common to all of them, however, is the fact that the generation of cavitation fields using ultrasound is very energy-intensive and therefore can be economically used only for limited quantities.
Hydrodynamic cavitation generators are known in the prior art. These, too, can be extended to form supercavitation generators by a suitable arrangement of the bodies around which flow is difficult (hereinafter called flow-impeding bodies), as per DE 10009326. In most cases use is made of static components, which must be optimized by experimentation for the particular fluids concerned. A regulating function is then achieved by varying the admission pressure or displacing the turbulence-generating elements. These hydrodynamic supercavitation generators according to the prior art achieve good results when mixing constituents or components of a mass flow passing through them, by building up a supercavitation field.
In the previously known systems, regulation via admission pressure or via the arrangement of the turbulence-generating systems was necessary. However, depending on the components used, regulability and/or the maximum admission pressure is limited, and often difficult to achieve. In addition, in the case of displacement or variation of the turbulence-generating systems, mechanical modification or complete reconstruction, or alternative construction, of the apparatus must be undertaken, and requires frequent and complex optimization. The mechanical variability of these turbulence-generating systems is achieved at the cost of a simple and cost-effective construction, or necessitates other compromises regarding effectiveness. For many components this problem has not yet been solved, or cannot be solved without changes to the operating principle of cavitation reactors.

THE DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is the object of the invention to provide a device for the molecular integration and disintegration of solid, liquid and/or gaseous through-flowing, parallel-flowing and counter-flowing components which is able, dependently on or independently of high or low admission pressures and independently of composition and density differences of the components, continuously to ensure a highly effective supercavitation field as a result of its capacity for dynamic regulation. In this case the through-flow of a component in a primary flow is no longer obligatory, and can be split up into a plurality of secondary flows.
This object is achieved by the molecular reactor, that is, in the device according to the invention, in that supply/discharge passages are introduced on the centre axis of the through-flow chamber, via which components, for example, fluids, can be introduced/discharged both against and with the flow direction of the mass flow, ensuring, in conjunction with the flow-impeding bodies, a highly efficient superposition in opposite directions of at least two supercavitation fields. The energy potential made available thereby provides the precondition for building new molecular compounds or modifying/disintegrating existing ones, and/or allows homogenized mixing and/or dissolution and/or suspension of the counter-flowing and entrained components.
The device of the invention for the molecular integration and disintegration of solid, liquid and/or gaseous components by means of cavitation builds up in a reactor a hydrodynamic cavitation field which can be utilized in many ways: firstly, it can be used for physically mixing difficult-to-mix and/or difficult-to-dissolve components, for example, hydrophobic and hydrophilic mixtures such as water/oil, milk/fat, fuel/water; secondly, it can be used to produce radical, reactive intermediates (e.g. polyoxides) in dependence on the concentration of the added or dissolved substances (e.g. gases), which can be used as catalysts and reaction partners in building, disintegrating or reconstructing molecular compounds. This makes possible reactions of components which are incompatible (e.g. immiscible) under standard conditions. Examples of such reactions comprise mixing, emulsifying, dispersing, homogenizing, de-mixing, separating, degassing and gasifying within systems which comprise components in the form of solid-liquid, liquid-solid, liquid-liquid, gaseous-liquid and liquid-gaseous phases.
A modified aspect of the invention enables the production of new materials, an extensive field of new, alternative or improved chemical reactions, together with electrolysis and/or reaction in an applied magnetic field within the cavitation field.
In a preferred embodiment cavitation fields are controlled by pressure variation and mass flows having very diverse pressures are combined in the entrained-flow or counter-flow method, offering the following advantages as compared to systems premixed outside the cavitation field:
The control is effected by variation of the admission pressure of the mass flow and/or by variation of the pressure of the mass flows supplied with and against the flow direction and may or may not also take place in an auxiliary manner by mechanical variation of the apparatus. The device (200) with chamber cavitator (device (300)) and the device (500) represent a preferred embodiment of such control.
The reaction control of the cavitation of the mass flows is effected via various inlet/outlet pressures of the mass flows at the housing (1-1) and the cavitation chamber reactor according to device (300) and via the supply/discharge of mass flow or mixed-flow components to/from the chamber housing 11 or mixed-flow components via the inlet/outlet connecting pieces (2-3) and/or (2-8).
Through the mutually independent increase and/or decrease of the pressure of mass flows or mixed-flow components in the chamber housing 11 (2-2) and in the inlet opening/outlet openings (2-3), superpositions of cavitation fields are already produced in the region of the nozzle constriction (2-5-1). The chamber cavitator according to device (300) may be subdivided by partitions (3-6) into a plurality of individual chambers via which different components can be supplied or discharged. This mechanism may also be used for control. The mass flows may be introduced into the apparatus by, among other methods, pressure from outside and/or low pressure from inside, and removed from the apparatus by low pressure from outside and/or high pressure from inside.
The supercavitation fields are generated by the effect of entrainment of the mass flows out of the main chamber housing I (2-6), and therefore the increase in the flow velocity of the mass flows in the main chamber region, in particular of the shear-inducing rebound faces of the reaction body (2-1), without mechanical modification of the flow-impeding bodies (reaction bodies) (flow-impeding bodies (1-8) and/or flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9) and/or chamber cavitators according to device (300)). This control can be applied variably and flexibly to the mass flow according to the viscosity of the media concerned. This pressure-controlled reaction modification is referred to as “controlled cavitation” (Cavi Control Technology: “CCT”) and forms part of the basis of the invention. Contrary to the prior art, control is effected exclusively via pressure and, in a preferred embodiment, can take place at different locations within the housing (1-1) with different mass flows having different components, and can therefore be utilized for specified control of the individual processes at different locations in the device (100).
In a multi-chamber reactor a plurality of reactors may also be arranged sequentially (one behind the other) or nested one inside the other.
In a particular embodiment, through the combination of very diverse mass flows in the reactor, parts of the component flows can be introduced multiple times in a kind of circulation until the desired effect is achieved.
In addition, in another preferred embodiment, the variation (preferably the basic setting) of the cavitation fields in the inventive device may be effected by variation of the position of the flow-impeding bodies along or perpendicular to the centre axis of the through-flow chamber, whereby bandwidths for the pressures to be applied are defined or the reaction conditions and/or dissolution conditions of the different components can be defined by variation of the cavitation effect.
The device according to the invention offers specific applications in use:

a. for degassing water or other gas-containing substances,
b. for combining degassed water or gas-containing substances with hydrophobic substances (such as oil, wax or other insoluble or difficult-to-dissolve compounds),
c. for methanol synthesis by mixing degassed water with methane,
d. for treatment of water and sewage slurries,
e. for improving the effectiveness of biogas reactors,
f. for introducing gases into foodstuffs, preferably for original wort aeration in beer production, carbonization of mineral water or oxygen enrichment of O₂-water,
g. for homogenizing foodstuffs, preferably milk,
h. for enriching combustibles and fuels, preferably diesel fuel, heating oil and/or petrol, with combustion-promoting gases such as air or oxygen, or water prior to the combustion process,
i. for stabilizing and homogenizing fuel and combustible storage facilities over longer time periods than hitherto (e.g. storage of heating oil),
j. for aerating bodies of water in environment regeneration,
k. for breaking up heavy metals in organic solid matrix,
l. for destroying germs, e.g. in drinking water, waste water and swimming pools, and in process engineering plants by mechanical destruction,
m. for destroying germs, e.g. in drinking water, waste water and swimming pools, and in process engineering plants by effective reduction of the required quantities of chlorine or ozone by improved integration thereof in water, or
n. for premixing multicomponent systems prior to chemical processes,
o. for carrying out chemical processes which take place in cavitation fields,
p. for use in whirlpool facilities and/or saunas in the medical/fitness fields for air and/or oxygen therapies and/or oxygen baths.

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows the operating principle of the present invention, device (100), and comprises the following features and components:

1-1 Housing
1-2 Inlet/outlet opening
1-3 Inlet/outlet opening
1-4 Through-flow chamber
1-5 Cavity
1-6 Mounting (can be attached at any points on the housing (1-1))
1-7 Widened portion
1-8 Flow-impeding body
1-9 Flow impeding sub-zones
1-10 Through-cavity
1-11 Inlet opening
1-12 Inlet/outlet opening
1-13 Through-cavity
1-14 Inlet opening
1-15 Inlet/outlet opening
1-16 Inlet/outlet opening
1-17 Inlet/outlet opening
1-18 Further supply/discharge passages

FIG. 2:
FIG. 2 shows a prototype device (device (200)) of the present invention (or of the device (100)) and includes the following features and components:

2-1 Reaction body
[corresponds to a preferred embodiment of 1-9 of device (100)]
2-2 Chamber housing
[corresponds to a preferred embodiment of 1-10 and 1-13 of device (100)]
2-3 Inlet/outlet connecting piece
[corresponds to a preferred embodiment of 1-14 of device (100)]
2-4 Inflow and outflow opening
[corresponds to a preferred embodiment of the inlet/outlet openings of device (100)]
2-5 Chamber housing inlet and outlet
[corresponds to a preferred embodiment of the inlet/outlet openings of device (100)]
2-5-1 Nozzle constriction for superposing cavitation fields
2-6 Main chamber housing
[corresponds to a preferred embodiment of 1-1 of device (100)]
2-7 Inflow constriction
2-8 Main chamber housing inlet and outlet
[corresponds to a preferred embodiment of 1-2 and 1-3 of device (100)]

The reaction bodies (2-1) (see description of FIGS. 3 and 4) are fixed to the chamber housing (2-2). The chamber housing (2-2) has no/one or more inflow and outflow openings (2-4) and at least one nozzle inlet and outlet (2-5). The outflowing component is supplied via at least one inlet/outlet connecting piece (2-3) and inlets and outlets of the main chamber housing (2-8), which at least one inlet/outlet connecting piece (2-3) functions in addition as the support for the reaction body (2-1). The main chamber housing (2-6) itself, which has a rectilinear or single and/or multiple conical construction, may have inflow constrictions (2-7), nozzle constrictions (2-5-1), inlets and outlets to the main chamber housing (2-8), inlet connecting pieces (2-3) for supplying further components or for pressure regulation and therefore cavitation regulation. In addition, further inlet/outlet connecting pieces (2-3) and inflow and outflow openings (2-4) may be attached. These are used for the discharge or supply of components.
FIG. 3:
FIG. 3 shows with reference to the chamber cavitator device (300) a preferred embodiment of the present invention of the flow-impeding body (1-8) of the device (100) and has the following features and components:

3-1 Reaction body
3-2 Chamber housing
3-3 Inlet/outlet connecting piece (attachable to all points of the reaction body)
3-4 Inflow and outflow opening
3-5 Chamber housing
3-6 Partition

FIG. 4:
FIG. 4 shows the cavitator-segments device (400) in a preferred embodiment of the present invention and of the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9) of the device (100) and has the following components and features:

4-1 Reaction body
4-2 Shear-inducing rebound faces

The reaction bodies are parts of the flow-impeding bodies and have on their surfaces properties which cause additional turbulence and shearing of flow.
FIG. 5:
FIG. 5 shows the operating principle of a preferred embodiment (device 500) of the invention (device 100) and has the following features and components:

5-1 Reaction body
5-2 Position indicator
5-3 Chamber housing
5-4 Upstream and downstream nozzle
5-5 Reaction gap
5-6 Reaction chamber
5-7 Injector
5-8 Main flow inlet and outlet
5-9 Decompression chamber

EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

1. Improved Operation
As compared to other systems of the prior art (DE1009326), higher degrees of mixing at lower pressure have been achieved in experiments with the device (100). The number of cycles of any required repetitions of the process is thereby also reduced. All these simplifications represent an optimization of the cost potential in application. Especially in comparison to energy-intensive cavitation generating methods such as ultrasound and laser technology, the invention represents a low-cost, less energy-intensive method which is simpler to control and install.
2. New and Improved Applications
In the degassing of water a smaller quantity of dissolved gases (e.g. oxygen) was demonstrated even after a single reaction cycle than with >5 reaction cycles using systems of the prior art.
In the mixing of hydrophobic and hydrophilic substances, faster, more efficient and more long-lasting mixing was achieved. For example, an emulsion of water in fuels has a smaller droplet size of the water particles and, in contrast to conventional systems, no demixing was observable even after an extended period.
Synthesizing of methanol from water and methane was carried out with substantially higher efficiency than with conventional systems.
In waste water and bacteriologically contaminated waste water, sterilization of the water after treatment with a device (100) was demonstrated.
Sewage slurries showed faster biological decomposition, difficult-to-dissolve substances contained therein being solubilized and aeration for biological decomposition being carried out.
The aeration of original wort with carbon dioxide during beer manufacture also takes place more effectively and is reproducibly controllable for the first time using the system.
The carbonization of water with carbon dioxide for mineral water production takes place more effectively, with a faster and quantitatively greater dissolution of carbon dioxide, leading to completely new effervescent flavors of the carbonized drinks.
The difficult dissolution of oxygen in drinks or water was carried out with greater oxygen solubility than using conventional methods.
Through treatment with a device (100) milk was homogenized, rendering the known technically conventional homogenizing process superfluous.
The enrichment of fuel with water or oxygen for passenger/heavy goods vehicle engines, desired for more effective engine performance, has not been achieved in the prior art hitherto. By means of the device (100) water and oxygen were mechanically suspended so finely in fuel that no separation took place and the combustion process can thus be carried out in a more effective and environmentally-friendly manner using the new fuel.
The aeration of bodies of water in environmental regeneration is effected according to the prior art by passing air through the body of water to be regenerated. Using the invention, more effective dissolution of the gas in the body of water to be aerated took place.
Through the high cavitation forces complex compounds such as heavy metals in waste water can be broken up and more easily separated later. Gases could be isolated from the system and separated, and salts were separated/precipitated with application of an electrical field (electrolysis via main chamber and chamber housing) (see FIG. 2).
The above-mentioned effects for sterilizing waste water were also used to destroy germs in swimming pools, so that chlorinization could be avoided, or smaller quantities of disinfectants needed to be added. Even when adding disinfectants such as chlorine and ozone, more effective introduction was achieved. The same applies to the treatment of drinking water and to the sterilization of production media in process engineering, food processing and bio-technological plants.
For selected chemical processes, such as the methanol synthesis mentioned above, rapid and effective reaction of the components was achieved. In particular, hydrophobic and hydrophilic components were effectively mixed by the device (100), and the high energies arising during implosion of the cavitation bubbles could be used for the reaction.

Claims

1. A device (100) for mixing and/or demixing the components of one or more through-flowing, entrained and/or counter-flowing mass flows, which components may be, in particular, solid, liquid or gaseous, by means of one or more hydrodynamic supercavitation fields, in order to produce a mixture, in particular an emulsion or suspension, and new molecular compounds and separations (cavitative integration and disintegration), comprising a housing (1-1) which may have one or more inlet/outlet openings (1-2) for supplying or discharging at least a part of a mass flow and one or more outlet/inlet openings (1-3) for supplying or discharging a mass flow,

whereby the inlet/outlet openings (1-2) and (1-3) may be reversed,

wherein, in that case (1-3) is the inlet opening and (1-2) is the outlet opening, the housing (1-1) comprising a through-flow chamber (1-4) which has a flow-impeding body (1-8) arranged therein by means of amounting (1-6) and the flow-impeding body (1-8) having at least one and/or a plurality of flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9), each of which provides a local flow restriction, wherein the cross-section of the through-flow chamber (1-4) taken perpendicularly to its centre axis becomes first larger and then smaller in at least a part of the region surrounding the flow-impeding body (1-8) with changing flow direction of the total mass flow passing through the through-flow chamber (1-4).

2. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the pressure of the through-flowing and counter-flowing mass flow, and of further mass flows, can in each case be varied independently of the others.

3. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the flow-impeding body (1-8) can be displaced along the direction of the centre axis of the through-flow chamber (1-4) and/or perpendicularly thereto, or wherein the flow-impeding body (1-8) is mounted rigidly.

4. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein at least one of the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9) is so configured that its cross-section taken perpendicularly to the centre axis of the through-flow chamber (1-4) is larger or smaller at the end of the sub-body located closest to the inlet/outlet opening (1-2) than at the end closest to the inlet/outlet opening (1-3).

5. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein at least one of the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9) has the form of a frustum and, as a result of the two-way flow direction of the total mass flow passing through the through-flow chamber (1-4), each cone tip faces towards or away from the total mass flow passing through the through-flow chamber (1-4).

6. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein at least one of the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9) is in the form of a frustum and/or a cylinder having concave and/or convex surfaces according to device (400) and, as a result of the two-way flow direction of the total mass flow passing through the through-flow chamber (1-4), each cone tip faces towards or away from the total mass flow passing through the through-flow chamber (1-4).

7. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the flow-impeding sub-zone (1-9) which, of all the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9), is located closest to the outlet/inlet opening (1-2) or (1-3), is so configured that its cross-section taken perpendicularly to the centre axis of the through-flow chamber (1-4), viewed in the two-way flow direction of the total mass flow passing through the through-flow chamber (1-4), becomes first smaller and then larger or first larger again and then smaller again.

8. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the flow-impeding sub-zone (1-9) which, of all the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9), is located closest to the outlet/inlet opening (1-2) or (1-3), has a hollow end/start portion (1-5) which faces towards the outlet/inlet opening (1-2) or (1-3), the cross-section of said cavity (1-5) taken perpendicularly to the centre axis of the through-flow chamber (1-4) becoming smaller or larger.

9. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein each cross-sectional area of the hollow end portion (1-5) which completely contains the axis of symmetry thereof has an edge line which, depending on the two-way flow direction of the mass flow passing through the through-flow chamber (1-4), follows a convex or concave path.

10. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the flow-impeding body (1-8) is so arranged that the vertex of the through-flow chamber (1-4) contains at least one widened portion (1-7) which, in the two-way flow direction of the total mass flow passing through the through-flow chamber (1-4), is located after or before the flow-impeding body (1-8).

11. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the flow-impeding body (1-8) comprises a through-cavity (1-10) having at least one inlet/outlet opening (1-11) located at the end of the flow-impeding body (1-8) which is located closest to the inlet/outlet opening (1-3) or (1-5) of the housing (1-1) and/or is located between these two ends, the cavity (1-10) passing through the flow-impeding body (1-8) having at least one inlet/outlet opening (1-12), the mounting (1-6) comprises a through-cavity (1-13) having an inlet/outlet opening (1-14) and an inlet/outlet opening (1-15), the latter being connected to the inlet/outlet opening (1-11) of the flow-impeding body (1-8) and the mounting (1-6) and the flow-impeding body (1-8) being so connected to one another and so arranged in the housing (1-1) that via the inlet/outlet opening (1-14) of the mounting (1-6) at least some of the mass flows can be introduced into or discharged from the through-flow chamber (1-4) via the at least one inlet/outlet opening (1-12) of the flow-impeding body (1-8).

12. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the pressure of the mass flow which is introduced or discharged via the inlet/outlet opening (1-14) of the mounting (1-6) is variable independently of all the other mass flows.

13. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the cavity (1-10) passing through the flow-impeding body (1-8) is so configured that it has at least one inlet/outlet opening (1-12) located at the end of the flow-impeding body (1-8) which is located closest to the outlet/inlet opening (1-2) or (1-3) of the housing (1-1).

14. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the cavity (1-10) passing through the flow-impeding body (1-8) is so configured that it has at least one inlet/outlet opening (1-16) which is located in a partial surface region of the flow-impeding body (1-8), faces at least partially towards the internal wall of the through-flow chamber (1-4) and/or is located between two adjacent flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9).

15. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the cavity passing through the flow-impeding body (1-8) is so configured that it has at least one inlet/outlet opening (1-17) which is located in a partial surface region of the flow-impeding body (1-8), faces at least partially towards the internal wall of the through-flow chamber (1-4) and/or is located in the region of or on one of the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9).

16. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein further supply/discharge channels (1-18) for admixing/discharging components to/from the mass flows are present between the inlet/outlet opening (1-2) and the inlet/outlet opening (1-3).

17. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein, furthermore, there is provided an arrangement for subjecting components of the device and/or the mass flows in at least one location in, or through, the through-flow chamber (1-4) to the influence of ultrasound, thermal energy and/or laser light.

18. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the flow-impeding bodies (1-8) and/or the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9) are mounted on a chamber housing (3-2) which is attached to the housing (1-1) by one or more attachment points, further inlet/outlet connecting pieces (3-3) being optionally mounted at these attachment points.

19. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the interior of the chamber housing (3-2) which can be charged via the inlets (3-3) comprises a nested arrangement of further chamber cavitators of the type of device (300) with chamber housings (3-2) each having flow-impeding bodies (1-8) and/or flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9), so that each chamber housing itself acts as the housing (1-1) for the next chamber on the inside, and a system of nested cavitation chambers is produced in which each chamber acts like the device (100) with a cavitation chamber reactor (device (300)) contained therein.

20. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein a plurality of flow-impeding bodies (1-8) and/or flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9) and/or chamber cavitators according to device (300) are arranged in series.

21. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the housing (1-1), the flow-impeding bodies (1-8) and/or the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9) and/or the chamber cavitators according to device (300) are catalytically active or can be utilized catalytically over their entire surface or parts thereof.

22. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the surface structure of the housing, of the flow-impeding bodies (1-8), of the flow-impeding sub-zones (1-9) and/or of the chamber cavitators according to device (300) is modified by notches or structurings which intensify or reduce and/or modulate the cavitation effects.

23. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the pressure of the mass flows which are introduced or discharged via each inlet/outlet connecting piece (3-3) and/or via further supply passages (1-18) is variable independently of all other mass flows.

24. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein the through-cavity or reaction body (3-1) of the chamber cavitator according to device (300) may be subdivided by at least one partition (3-6) into a plurality of chambers, and individual mass flows having freely variable pressures can be supplied and/or discharged at freely determinable locations on the flow-impeding body or cavitation chamber reactor according to device (300), preferably via one or more inlet/outlet connecting pieces (3-3), inflow and outflow openings (3-4) and/or chamber housing-inflow/outflow openings (3-5).

25. An arrangement consisting of at least two devices (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the devices (100) are so arranged and configured that their inlet/outlet openings (1-2, 1-3) are utilized as a totality.

26. The device (100) of claim 1, wherein electrical fields and/or magnetic fields are applied to individual components.

27. A use of the device (100) of claim 1 for mixing the components of one or more mass flows, the components being in particular solid, liquid or gaseous, by means of a counter-flowing superposition of at least two hydrodynamic supercavitation fields in order to produce a mixture, in particular an emulsion or suspension.

28. A use of the device (100) of claim 26, wherein the mixing process is an emulsifying, dispersing, gasifying or homogenizing process.

29. A use of the device (100) of in claim 1 for mixing the components of one or more mass flows, the components being in particular solid, liquid or gaseous, by means of a counter-flowing superposition of at least two hydrodynamic supercavitation fields in order to achieve demixing, preferably separation or degassing.

30. A use of the device (100) of claim 1 for mixing and/or demixing the components of one or more through-flowing mass flows, the components being in particular solid, liquid or gaseous, by means of a counter-flowing superposition of at least two hydrodynamic supercavitation fields for carrying out chemical reactions and/or producing new materials, the reaction being preferably electrolysis in the cavitation field.

31. The use of claim 1,

a. for degassing water and/or other gas-containing substances,

b. for combining degassed water and/or gas-containing substances with hydrophobic substances (such as oil, wax or other insoluble or difficult-to-dissolve compounds),

c. for methanol synthesis by mixing water or degassed water with methane,

d. for treatment of water and sewage slurries,

e. for improving the effectiveness of biogas reactors,

f. for introducing gases into foodstuffs, preferably for original wort aeration in beer production, carbonization of mineral water and/or oxygen enrichment of O₂-water,

g. for homogenizing foodstuffs, preferably milk,

h. for enriching combustibles and fuels, preferably diesel fuel, heating oil and/or petrol, with combustion-promoting gases such as air and/or oxygen, and/or water prior to the combustion process,

i. for stabilizing and/or homogenizing fuel and combustible storage facilities over longer time periods than hitherto (e.g. storage of heating oil),

j. for aerating bodies of water in environment regeneration,

k. for breaking up heavy metals in organic solid matrix,

l. for destroying germs, preferably in, but not limited to, drinking water, waste water and swimming pools, and in process engineering plants by mechanical destruction,

m. for destroying germs, preferably in, but not limited to, drinking water, waste water and swimming pools, and in process engineering plants by effective reduction of the required quantities of chlorine or ozone and/or other germicidal compounds by improved integration thereof in water, or

n. for premixing multicomponent systems prior to chemical processes,

o. for carrying out chemical processes which take place in cavitation fields and/or in cavitation fields of mixed systems,

for use in whirlpool facilities and/or saunas in the medical/fitness field for air and/or oxygen therapies and/or air and/or oxygen baths.