Patent ID: 8670958

Claim:
An apparatus for receiving and holding a slurry for reducing the pressure of said slurry, the apparatus comprising: a flash vessel having a bottom, a top, side walls, a slurry inlet and a vapour outlet, wherein dimensions of said flash vessel are selected so as to minimize a mass of carry-over products exiting from said vapour outlet; a wear-resistant pressure let down flash tube mounted in said slurry inlet for use in passing an ore slurry into said flash vessel to release energy from said ore slurry and reduce pressure of said ore slurry, wherein dimensions of said flash tube are selected such that pressure at an exit of said flash tube is greater than, but not more than 1.2 times, a pressure in said flash vessel; and a volume of said ore slurry in a slurry pool in said bottom of said flash vessel, wherein a depth for said slurry pool is selected to be sufficient to dissipate momentum of an exit jet from said flash tube, such that an impingement velocity of said exit jet is zero at said bottom of said flash vessel; wherein said dimensions of said flash vessel, said dimensions of said flash tube and said depth for said slurry pool are selected based on simulating: a slurry comprising an aqueous mixture of water, dissolved metals and solid particulate leaving an autoclave and entering a model domain of said flash vessel via said flash tube, and a phase change that accompanies a release of energy from said slurry and a pressure reduction of said slurry, said simulating including separately tracking a volume fraction of a vapour-phase and a liquid-phase inside said flash vessel to obtain a movement of a free surface interface between said vapour-phase and said liquid-phase.