Countercurrent exchange

Countercurrent exchange is a mechanism occurring in nature and mimicked in industry and engineering, in which there is a crossover of some property, usually heat or some component, between two flowing bodies flowing in opposite directions to each other. The flowing bodies can be liquids, gases, or even solid powders, or any combination of those. For example, in a distillation column, the vapors bubble up through the downward flowing liquid while exchanging both heat and mass. The maximum amounts of heat or mass transfer that can be obtained is higher with countercurrent than cocurrent (parallel) exchange because countercurrent maintains a slowly declining difference or gradient (usually temperature or concentration difference). In cocurrent exchange the initial gradient is higher but falls off quickly, leading to wasted potential. For example, in the diagram at the right, the fluid being heated (exiting top) has a higher exiting temperature than the cooled fluid (exiting bottom) that was used for heating. With cocurrent or parallel exchange the heated and cooled fluids can only approach one another. The result is that countercurrent exchange can achieve a greater amount of heat or mass transfer than parallel under otherwise similar conditions. See: Heat exchanger#Flow arrangement Countercurrent exchange when set up in a circuit or loop can be used for building up concentrations, heat, or other properties of flowing liquids. Specifically when set up in a loop with a buffering liquid between the incoming and outgoing fluid running in a circuit, and with active transport pumps on the outgoing fluid's tubes, the system is called a Countercurrent multiplier, enabling a multiplied effect of many small pumps to gradually build up a large concentration in the buffer liquid. Other countercurrent exchange circuits where the incoming and outgoing fluids touch each other are used for retaining a high concentration of a dissolved substance or for retaining heat, or for allowing the external buildup of the heat or concentration at one point in the system. Countercurrent exchange circuits or loops are found extensively in nature, specifically in biologic systems. In vertebrates, they are called a Rete mirabile, originally the name of an organ in fish Gills for absorbing oxygen from the water. It is mimicked in industrial systems. Countercurrent exchange is a key concept in chemical engineering thermodynamics and manufacturing processes, for example in extracting sucrose from sugar beet roots. Countercurrent multiplication which is a similar but different concept where liquid moves in a loop followed by a long length of movement in opposite directions with an intermediate zone, the tube leading to the loop passively building up a gradient of heat (or cooling) or solvent concentration while the returning tube has a constant small pumping action all along it, so that a gradual intensification of the heat or concentration is created towards the loop. Countercurrent multiplication has been found in the kidneys[1] as well as in many other biological organs.

Countercurrent exchange along with Concurrent exchange comprise the mechanisms used to transfer some property of a fluid from one flowing current of fluid to another across a semipermeable membrane or thermallyconductive material between them. The property transferred could be heat, concentration of a chemical substance, or others. Countercurrent exchange is a key concept in chemical engineering thermodynamics and manufacturing processes, for example in extracting sucrose from sugar beet roots.

Concurrent Flow - In this exchange system, the two fluids flow in the same direction. As the diagram shows, a concurrent exchange system has a variable gradient over the length of the exchanger. With equal flows in the two tubes, this method of exchange is only capable of moving half of the property from one flow to the other, no matter how long the exchanger is. If each stream changes its property to be 50% closer to that of the opposite stream's inlet condition, exchange will stop because at that point equilibrium is reached, and the gradient has declined to zero. In the case of

unequal flows, the equilibrium condition will occur somewhat closer to the conditions of the stream with the higher flow.

Countercurrent Flow - By contrast, when the two flows move in opposite directions, the system can maintain a nearly constant gradient between the two flows over their entire length. With a sufficiently long length and a sufficiently low flow rate this can result in almost all of the property being transferred. However, note that nearly complete transfer is only possible if the two flows are, in some sense, "equal". If we are talking about mass transfer, then this means equal flowrates of solvent or solution, depending on how the concentrations are expressed. For heat transfer, then the product of the average specific heat capacity (on a mass basis, averaged over the temperature range involved) and the mass flow rate must be the same for each stream. If the two flows are not equal (for example if heat is being transferred from water to air or vice-versa), then conservation of mass or energy requires that the streams leave with concentrations or temperatures that differ from those indicated in the diagram. Countercurrent Chromatography - Method of separation that is based on the differential partitioning of analytes between two immiscible liquids (see www.theliquidphase.org) using countercurrent or cocurrent flow. Evolving from Craig's Countercurrent Distribution (CCC), the most widely used term and abbreviation are CounterCurrent Chromatography or CCC] (see CounterCurrent Chromatography or CCC, www.countercurrent.org), in particular when using hydrodynamic CCC instruments. The term partition chromatography is largely a synonymous and predominantly used for hydrostatic CCC instruments

COUNTERCURRENT EXCHANGE
The efficiency of fish gills stems from a simple adaptation known as countercurrent exchange: The blood in the capillaries flows in the opposite direction from the water in the adjacent channels. Dissolved gases diffuse faster between fluids with a large difference in gas concentration (a high concentration gradient) than between fluids with only a small difference.

In the fish gill, low-oxygen blood enters the capillaries, encountering water at the end of its travel through the gills, which is thus relatively low in oxygen. As blood travels in the direction opposite to the water, it encounters "fresher" water with ever-higher oxygen concentrations. Thus, along the capillary, a steep diffusion gradient favors transfer of oxygen into the blood.

Gill efficiency is further increased by ventilation, the increase in flow of the respiratory medium over the respiratory surface. Fish ventilate by swimming and by opening and closing the flaps that cover the gills, the opercula. This draws fresh water into their mouths to pass over their gills and out their gill slits.