Seawater productivity

Markaki, Z., Oikonomou, K., Kocak, M., Kouvarakis, G, Chaniotaki, A., Kubilay, N., and Mihalopoulos, N. (2003) Atmospheric deposition of inorganic phosphorus in the Levantine Basin, eastern Mediterranean Spatial and temporal variability and its role in seawater productivity. Limnol. Oceanogr. 48, 1557-1568. 

Reverse osmosis is used for desalination of seawater, treatment of recycle water in chemical plants and separation of industrial wastes. More recently the technique has been applied to concentration and dehydrogenation of food products such as milk and fruit juices. See ultrafiltralion. 

Silver reduces the oxygen evolution potential at the anode, which reduces the rate of corrosion and decreases lead contamination of the cathode. Lead—antimony—silver alloy anodes are used for the production of thin copper foil for use in electronics. Lead—silver (2 wt %), lead—silver (1 wt %)—tin (1 wt %), and lead—antimony (6 wt %)—silver (1—2 wt %) alloys ate used as anodes in cathodic protection of steel pipes and stmctures in fresh, brackish, or seawater. The lead dioxide layer is not only conductive, but also resists decomposition in chloride environments. Silver-free alloys rapidly become passivated and scale badly in seawater. Silver is also added to the positive grids of lead—acid batteries in small amounts (0.005—0.05 wt %) to reduce the rate of corrosion. 

Preparation and Manufacture. Magnesium chloride can be produced in large quantities from (/) camalhte or the end brines of the potash industry (see Potassium compounds) (2) magnesium hydroxide precipitated from seawater (7) by chlorination of magnesium oxide from various sources in the presence of carbon or carbonaceous materials and (4) as a by-product in the manufacture of titanium (see Titaniumand titanium alloys). 

In seawater—dolime and hrine—dolime processes, calcined dolomite or dolime, CaO MgO, is used as a raw material (Table 9). Dolime typically contains 58% CaO, 41% MgO, and less than 1% combined Si02, P O, and CO2 where R is a trivalent metal ion, eg, Al " or Fe " ( 4). Roughly one-half of the magnesia is provided by the magnesium salts in the seawater or brine and the other half is from dolime (75). Plant size is thus reduced using dolime and production cost is probably lower. 

The key difference between the brine process and seawater process is the precipitation step. In the latter process (Fig. 6) the seawater is first softened by a dding small amounts of lime to remove bicarbonate and sulfates, present as MgSO. Bicarbonate must be removed prior to the precipitation step to prevent formation of insoluble calcium carbonate. Removal of sulfates prevents formation of gypsum, CaS02 2H20. Once formed, calcium carbonate and gypsum cannot be separated from the product. 

In reverse osmosis membranes, the pores are so smaH, in the range 0.5— 2 nm in diameter, that they ate within the range of the thermal motion of the polymer chains. The most widely accepted theory of reverse osmosis transport considers the membrane to have no permanent pores at aH. Reverse osmosis membranes are used to separate dissolved microsolutes, such as salt, from water. The principal appHcation of reverse osmosis is the production of drinking water from brackish groundwater or seawater. Figure 25 shows the range of appHcabHity of reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, microfiltration, and conventional filtration. 

Although the principal appHcation of reverse osmosis membranes is still desalination of brackish water or seawater to provide drinking water, a significant market is production of ultrapure water. Such water is used in steam boilers or in the electronics industry, where huge amounts of extremely pure water with a total salt concentration significantly below 1 ppm are required to wash siUcon wafers. 

The advent of a large international trade in methanol as a chemical feedstock has prompted additional purchase specifications, depending on the end user. Chlorides, which would be potential contaminants from seawater during ocean transport, are common downstream catalyst poisons likely to be excluded. Limitations on iron and sulfur can similarly be expected. Some users are sensitive to specific by-products for a variety of reasons. Eor example, alkaline compounds neutralize MTBE catalysts, and ethanol causes objectionable propionic acid formation in the carbonylation of methanol to acetic acid. Very high purity methanol is available from reagent vendors for small-scale electronic and pharmaceutical appHcations. 

Dissolved Minerals. The most significant source of minerals for sustainable recovery may be ocean waters which contain nearly all the known elements in some degree of solution. Production of dissolved minerals from seawater is limited to fresh water, magnesium, magnesium compounds (qv), salt, bromine, and heavy water, ie, deuterium oxide. Considerable development of techniques for recovery of copper, gold, and uranium by solution or bacterial methods has been carried out in several countries for appHcation onshore. These methods are expected to be fully transferable to the marine environment (5). The potential for extraction of dissolved materials from naturally enriched sources, such as hydrothermal vents, may be high. 

Memhra.nes. Liquid separation via membranes, ie, reverse osmosis (qv), is used in production of pure water from seawater. The chief limit to broader use of reverse osmosis is the high pressure required as the concentration of reject rises. 

Electrodialysis. Electro dialytic membrane process technology is used extensively in Japan to produce granulated—evaporated salt. Filtered seawater is concentrated by membrane electro dialysis and evaporated in multiple-effect evaporators. Seawater can be concentrated to a product brine concentration of 200 g/L at a power consumption of 150 kWh/1 of NaCl (8). Improvements in membrane technology have reduced the power consumption and energy costs so that a high value-added product such as table salt can be produced economically by electro dialysis. However, industrial-grade salt produced in this manner caimot compete economically with the large quantities of low cost solar salt imported into Japan from Austraha and Mexico. 

Seafood. Sorbates are used to extend the shelf life of many seafood products, both fresh and processed (103,104). For smoked or dried fish, an instantaneous dip in 5 wt % potassium sorbate or a 10-minute dip in 1.0 wt % potassium sorbate prior to drying or smoking inhibits the development of yeast and mold (105,106). For fresh fish, sorbates can be incorporated at approximately 0.5 wt % into the ice, refrigerated seawater, or ice-water slush in... 

Dimethyl sulfoxide occurs widely at levels of <3 ppm. It has been isolated from spearmint oil, com, barley, malt, alfalfa, beets, cabbage, cucumbers, oats, onion, Swiss chard, tomatoes, raspberries, beer, coffee, milk, and tea (5). It is a common constituent of natural waters, and it occurs in seawater in the 2one of light penetration where it may represent a product of algal metaboHsm (6). Its occurrence in rainwater may result from oxidation of atmospheric dimethyl sulfide, which occurs as part of the natural transfer of sulfur of biological origin (7,8). 

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