Application of nanofiltration and electrodialysis for improved performance of a salt production plant

Abstract

ABSTRACT Brines from coal mines are currently treated in a salt production plant with the use of thermal methods. To decrease the energy consumption and increase the salt recovery of the existing plant, the application of membrane processes – nanofiltration (NF), reverse osmosis (RO), electrodialysis (ED) – and chemical treatment was proposed. Based on the laboratory results, a hybrid NF-ED-RO system was designed, and the plant performance and the scaling risk were discussed. The result shows, that application of a membrane system could substantially improve the performance of a salt production plant.