A review is presented o~ the various studies which have been conducted in connection with the de~elopment of a contacting technique (called the Atomized Suspension Technique) in which the feed solution is sprayed into a heated cylindrical chamber and subjected to a series of sequential physical operations, such as evaporation and drying, followed by one or several stages of chemical conversion, while the finely divided droplets and particles are being conveyed down the chamber by the water vapor generated by their own evaporation. The heating medium' consists of a plasma of water vapor ~nd recent experimental results are presented on the applications of this technique to spray drying, peat and biomass gasification and hydrocracking of heavy crudes or petroleum residues.