A detailed description of the water venting process in the retort–pump–tank system has been described in Berteli et al. [7].For the retort filling stage, the water in the tank, at a pre set temperature, was transferred via the centrifugal pump (CP) to the bottom of the retort on opening the valve [16]. Thus the water passed through the three way valve [12] and then through another three way valve [15]. Once water overflow was observed coming out the venting valves and bleeders [28], the bottom of the retort [16] and all the overflow valves were closed and the pump turned off .During the venting stage, as the water was flowing out at the bottom of the retort, steam was simultaneously entering at the top. To achieve this, the incoming steam valve at the top [22] and the water outlet valve at the bottom of the retort [16] were opened when the pump was switched on. Thus the water passed through one three-way valve [12] positioned in the direction from retort to pump, was then suctioned through the pump, and finally passed through another three-way valve [15] positioned in the direction from pump to storage tank. Two check valves [11] and [17] were installed to prevent the water from back-flowing.