Pumps brine

Production of KCl at the Wendover, Utah operation employs a large 7000 acre complex of solar ponds. Both shallow brine wells and deeper wells are used to pump brine into the pond complex. In the preconcentration ponds water is evaporated and sodium chloride is crystallized. Later the brine is transferred to production ponds where sylvinite is deposited. Brine is then transferred to other ponds where camaUite is crystallized. Sylvinite is removed from drained ponds with self-loading scrapers and taken to the plant were KCl is separated by flotation with an amine oil collector. The camaUite,... 

The second source of salt is from natural brines which are the result of rock salt being dissolved in ground water such brine is either from springs (wells) or is brought to the surface of the earth by pumping. Brine can be also artificially prepared when from impure deposits the salt is leached with water. Brine is treated at salt works and cristalline salt is produced or it is used as a solution for further chemical manufacture in factories which are built in the vicinity of the brine source. If the solution is not sufficiently concentrated it is saturated by addition of solid salt. 

AMMONIA COMPRESSORS VACUUM PUMPS(FOR PRIMING SIPHONS) COOLING WATER PUMPS DRAINAGE PUMPS BRINE CIRCULATING PUMPS BRINE STIRRING PUMPS AIR HEATERS (DEFROSTING)... 

Numbers 5 and 6 above depend on use of the utility approach. Figure 9.30 shows that the refrigerant is cooling the brine rather than the process gas. The brine is then pumped as two streams (at different temperatures) to the liquefaction plant. The need for two heat-transfer operations carries the need to apply two temperature differentials, and so the primary ammonia system operates 4.5°C lower than the others. Still, the power requirement for compression is 8.5% lower than it is in the case of R-134a. Offsetting this saving are the capital costs of the system and the need to pump brine. 

Figure 1.49 (a) Solar pond and pumping station at Clayton Valley (Deberitz, 1993, courtesy of Chemetall GmbH), (b) Pumping brine between ponds at Clayton Valley (Dillard and McClean, 1991, courtesy of Rocky Mountain PAY DIRT). 

Fig. 7. Mercury cathode electroly2er and decomposer (11) 1, brine level 2, metal anodes 3, mercury cathode, flowing along baseplate 4, mercury pump 5, vertical decomposer 6, water feed to decomposer 7, graphite packing, promoting decomposition of sodium amalgam 8, caustic Hquor exit 9, denuded mercury 10, brine feed 11, brine exit 12, hydrogen exit from decomposer 13, chlorine gas space 14, chlorine exit 15, wash water.

Electric Submersible Oil Well Pump Cable. These cables are rated up to 5 kV and are designed for highly corrosive oil wells that besides oil also contain brine and other harsh chemicals as well as gases under high pressure and high temperatures (6). Insulations can be based on polypropylene for low temperature wells or on ethylene—propylene mbber which is compounded with special ingredients in order to resist the environments of high temperature wells (Fig. 4). 

Part of the continuously recirculated solution is bled off and sent to the iodine finishing process. Iodine finishing consists of contacting this bleed of concentrated acidic iodide solution with gaseous chlorine, through which iodine is formed by oxidation and precipitated. After iodine precipitation, the resulting acidic mother Hquor, saturated with free iodine, is pumped back to acidify the clarified brine and to recover the remaining iodine. 

Sa.Ia.rs and Lakes. Brines having high lithium concentration are found in salars of northern Chile, southwestern Bohvia, and northwestern Argentina. Brines of lower lithium concentration are found in salars in the western United States and the Tibetan Plateau. Brines pumped from beneath the surface of the Salar de Atacama (Chile) and Silver Peak (Clayton Valley, Nevada) are used for commercial production of lithium uti1i2ing solar evaporation (see Chemicals frombrines). The concentration of selected ions in brines from salars and lakes of potential commercial interest worldwide are shown in Table 1. 

In Texas, subterranean sulfate brines are pumped to the surface where the brines are first saturated with NaCl before they are cooled by mechanical refrigeration to form Glauber s salt (7,8). This salt is then separated from its mother Hquor, melted, and dehydrated with mechanical vapor recompression evaporators (9). 

The costs of building and maintaining a bromine plant are high because of the corrosiveness of brine solutions which contain chlorine and bromine and require special materials of constmction. The principal operating expenses are for pumping, steam, environmental costs, energy, and chlorine. The plants are very capital intensive. 

A third source of brine is found underground. Underground brines ate primarily the result of ancient terminal lakes that have dried up and left brine entrained in their salt beds. These deposits may be completely underground or start at the surface. Some of these beds ate hundreds of meters thick. The salt bed at the Salat de Atacama in Chile is over 300 m thick. Its bed is impregnated with brine that is being pumped to solar ponds and serves as feedstock to produce lithium chloride, potassium chloride, and magnesium chloride. Seades Lake in California is a similar ancient terminal lake. Brine from its deposit is processed to recover soda ash, borax, sodium sulfate, potassium chloride, and potassium sulfate. 

Recovery Process. Lithium is extracted from brine at Silver Peak Marsh, Nevada, and at the Salar de Atacama, Chile. Both processes were developed by Foote Mineral Corp. The process at Silver Peak consists of pumping shallow underground wells to solar ponds where brines are concentrated to over 5000 ppm. Lithium ion is then removed by precipitation with soda ash to form a high purity lithium carbonate [554-13-2]. At the Atacama, virgin brine with nearly 3000 ppm lithium is concentrated to near saturation in lithium chloride [7447-41 -8]. This brine is then shipped to Antofagasta, Chile where it is combined with soda ash to form lithium carbonate. 

Recovery Process. The Texas Gulf, Cane Creek potash operation (60) of Moab, Utah produces KCl by solution mining (61—64). Brine is pumped from underground to 1.6 x 10 (400 acres) of solar ponds where a mixture of KCl and NaCl is crystallized in a salt mass called sylvinite. 

In Texas, brine is pumped from underground deposits. Sodium chlodde is added to bring the brine near saturation. This solution is then chilled to —8°C to crystallize Glauber s salt (71). Anhydrous Na2S04 is recovered by artificially evaporating the Hquor formed by remelting the Glauber s salt. 

Chlorine—hydrogen ha2ards associated with mercury cells result from mercury pump failures heavy-metal impurities, particularly those with very low hydrogen overvoltage, ie. Mo, Cr, W, Ni excessively low pH of feed brine low NaCl concentrations in feed brine and poor decomposer operation, which leads to high sodium amalgam concentrations in the cell. 

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