Directional amine-based solvent extraction for simultaneous enhanced water recovery, salt separation and effective descaling from hypersaline brines

Highlights

● Simultaneous water recovery and salt separation from hypersaline brine is feasible.

● Water recovery shows an obvious boundary at saline concentration of 115 g/L.

● Cl^– removal is exponentially correlated with specific water extraction efficiency.

● Radical precipitation of Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ leads to more amine residues in raffinate.

Abstract

The feasibility of simultaneous water recovery, salt separation and effective descaling of hypersaline brine was investigated by diisopropylamine (DIPA)-based directional solvent extraction (DSE), using diluted/concentrated seawater with initial saline concentration range of 12–237 g/L at extraction temperatures of 5 and 15 °C, respectively. The water recovery shows an obvious boundary at saline concentration of 115 g/L under dual effect of specific water extraction efficiency and extraction cycles. High Cl^– ion concentration in product water is in sharp contrast to the nearly complete removal of SO₄^2– and hardness ions, indicating that DIPA-based DSE process indeed achieved efficient separation and purification of Cl^– ion from hypersaline brines. Especially, the radical precipitation of Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ ions in form of Mg(OH)₂ and CaCO₃ demonstrates effective descaling potential, although it leads to more DIPA residues in dewatered raffinate than product water. Moreover, an exponential correlation between the Cl^– removal efficiency and specific water extraction efficiency further reveals the intrinsic relationship of water extraction process and transfer of Cl^– ion to the product water. Overall, the study provides a novel approach for integrating the water recovery and separation of Cl^– ion from ultra-high-salinity brines with radical precipitation of Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ ions in one step.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Hypersaline brines / Directional solvent extraction / Salt separation / Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ descaling

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported financially by a grant from Shougang Group Co., Ltd., China (No. K202200134Y). We thank the staff members of Research Center of Environmental Technology in Water Pollution Source Identification and Precise Supervision, School of Environment, Tsinghua University who supported us in the analysis of ions and DIPA solvent in product water.

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-024-1792-7 and is accessible for authorized users.

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