Patent ID: 8409493
Filing Date: 2013-04-02
Classification: B22D

Abstract:
1. A system for leaching a material from an object, comprising: a pressure vessel structured to contain said object with said material exposed to a liquid leaching agent; a heater structured to heat the leaching agent; an accumulator; a valve in fluid communication with said pressure vessel and said accumulator, wherein said valve has an open position to vent said pressure vessel to said accumulator to superheat and boil the leaching agent in said vessel, and wherein said valve has a closed position to fluidly isolate said pressure vessel from said accumulator; a pressure reducing device in fluid communication with said accumulator, wherein said pressure reducing device is structured to reduce pressure in said accumulator to a first pressure less than a second pressure in said pressure vessel, wherein the first pressure is a pre-boiling pressure in said accumulator; a sensor structured to sense a control parameter associated with boiling of the leaching agent; and a controller communicatively coupled to said pressure reducing device and said sensor and operative to control said pressure reducing device based on an output from said sensor, wherein said controller is configured to execute program instructions to vary the first pressure in the accumulator based on the sensed control parameter to control an amount of boiling of the leaching agent.