Green process to recover magnesium chloride from residue solution of potassium chloride production plant

Abstract

The green process to recover magnesium chloride from the residue solution of a potassium chloride production plant, which comes from the leach solution of a potash mine in Laos, is designed and optimized. The residue solution contains magnesium chloride above 25 wt-%, potassium chloride and sodium chloride together below 5 wt-% and a few other ions such as Br^-, SO₄^2- and Ca²⁺. The recovery process contains two steps: the previous impurity removal operation and the two-stage evaporation-cooling crystallization procedure to produce magnesium chloride. The crystallized impurity carnallite obtained from the first step is recycled to the potassium chloride plant to recover the potassium salt. The developed process is a zero discharge one and thus fulfills the requirements for green chemical industrial production. The produced magnesium chloride is up to industrial criteria.

Keywords

magnesium chloride / two stage evaporation / cooling crystallization / green technological process