Showing papers on "Brine published in 1986"

Experimental Investigation of a Porous Carbon Electrode for the Removal of Mercury from Contaminated Brine

Abstract: A flow(through porous electrode, made of reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC), has been designed to remove mercury from contaminated brine solutions. Experiments with a bench-scale reactor show that the mercury concentration of contaminated brine solutions can be reduced by as much as a factor of five thousand during a single pass through the electrode. The process is mass-transfer limited, and the results of the experiments are used to develop a general correlation for the dependence of the mass-transfer coefficient on the flow rate of electrolyte through RVC. In addition, the effect of counterelectrode placement on the cell resistance is examined, and the experimental data are compared to predictions from a mathematical model of the system. The model agrees favorably with the experimental results, and the benefits of upstream counterelectrode placement, indicated by the model, are verified.

Use of reducing agents to control scale deposition from high temperature brine

Abstract: The deposition of metal-containing scale, such as iron silicate scale, from a hot aqueous geothermal brine, or the like, is controlled by blending into the brine sufficient reducing agent effective for reducing trivalent iron and manganese cations in a high temperature brine solution to divalent ions to cause an overall decrease in scale deposition, especially of iron silicate scale. Preferably, from 2 to 7 times the stoichiometric amount of reducing agent is used to effect a 70 to 90 percent reduction in the formation of iron silicate scale.

Possible Mars brines: Equilibrium and kinetic considerations

Abstract: To determine the fate of postulated near surface brines on Mars, the rate of H2O mass loss from subsurface brines was calculated as a function of latitude, depth, regolith porosity, eutectic temperature, and pore size. A model for a chemically reasonable brine that could reproduce Martian radar results was developed, and the escape rate of H2O molecules from such a brine was estimated. It is suggested that the presence of a low-permeability duricrust may be required to preserve such a brine for reasonable periods, and to prevent detection of an extensive subsurface system by the Viking MAWD instrument.

Process for removing silica from silica-rich geothermal brine

Abstract: A process is provided for reducing the silica content in silica-rich geothermal brine having dissolved heavy metals, particularly from brine which is flashed from a high natural pressure to a reduced pressure to convert some of the brine into steam, the flashing causing the brine to become supersaturated in silica. The process comprises combining a base material with the brine, in the brine flashing stage, to increase the brine pH from its natural range of about 5 to 5.5 to a range of between about 6.2 and about 6.6, with a pH of about 6.4 being preferred. The added base, which is preferably selected from ammonia, sodium or calcium hydroxide and sodium sulfide or polysulfide, reacts with heavy metals, notably iron, copper and lead in the brine to form a finely divided, insoluble compound or compounds which function as seed crystals onto which supersaturated amounts of silica are precipitated from the brine. The base may be added to the brine in an amount of between about 200 and about 400 ppm by weight. A contact time between the brine and the immediately-formed seed crystals of between about 2 and about 10 minutes is provided, with about 6 to about 8 minutes being preferred to provide sufficient time for the silica to precipitate onto the seed crystals. Thereafter the silicious insoluble material is separated from the brine. If ammonia is used as the base, a flocculating agent, for example, a cationic polymer such as polyacrylamide, is added at a rate of about 1 ppm by weight to flocculate the insoluble silicious material and thereby facilitate separation thereof from the brine. The brine may thereafter be reinjected into the ground for disposal.

Process for preparing hydrophobically associating terpolymers containing sulfonate functionality

Abstract: A process is described for producing unique and novel sulfonate-containing terpolymers of water soluble monomers with water insoluble monomers which are efficient viscosifiers of aqueous and brine media. The process relies on the complete solubilization of the water insoluble monomer by means of a dilute solution of a suitable water soluble surfactant. The type and concentration of surfactant are chosen to produce a clear, uniform, homogeneous aqueous dispersion of the hydrophobic monomers in the presence of both nonionic and anionic water soluble monomers, and, in addition, the reaction medium remains a clear, uniform, homogeneous mixture with no phase separation as the reaction proceeds to completion. Thus, the terpolymerization is effected without the formation of latexes or fine particulates of water insoluble polymer. The terpolymers, which may be isolated from the reaction mixture, provide efficient viscosification of water or brine solutions. The anionic sulfonate groups improve polymer solubility in water and brine, particularly in the presence of salts containing divalent cations, and impart some chain stiffness due to charge repulsion, particularly in water containing low electrolyte concentration. The hydrophobic N-alkylacrylamide groups associate in solution to create a structure with an apparent increase in molecular weight, resulting in enhanced thickening efficiency.

Multi-mode off-peak storage heat pump

Abstract: A multi-mode off-peak storage heat pump system for a building which includes a unidirectional flow refrigerant circuit and a brine circuit in selective heat exchange relation with one another, each being connected to a dual coil in ducts wherein air can be circulated within and between the inside and outside of the building, and an ice bank in the brine circuit for coolness and low-level heat storage, the system providing heating and cooling with no refrigerant reversing valves or coil defrost means and with optimum off-peak power utilization.

Geochemistry of Salt Water Beneath the Rolling Plains, North‐Central Texasa

Abstract: Sodium-chloride brine underlies the shallow subsurface and discharges at numerous surface locations in the Rolling Plains of north-central Texas. According to the ratios of Na/Cl and Br/Cl, and supported by the contribution of other chemical constituents, two major brine types can be distinguished: (1) brine derived from dissolution of halite by fresh ground water, and (2) brine derived from discharge of deep-basin brine aquifers. All salt-spring brines as well as shallow subsurface brines in the northern and western parts of the Rolling Plains represent halite-dissolution brine, whereas deep-basin brine is represented by samples in the shallow subsurface in the south. The oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of the halite-dissolution brines indicates a local, meteoric origin for these brines. Shallow subsurface samples from the southeastern Rolling Plains graphically include deep-basin brine values and meteoric-water values as end points, suggesting mixing of deep-basin brine with local meteoric ground water.

Process for recovering lithium from salt brines

Abstract: An improved process is described for recovering lithium from evaporatively concentrated brines. Epsom salt recovered from the brine at about 0° C. is added to the concentrated lithium-containing brine, so as to precipitate lithium sulfate monohydrate, the brine having previously been subjected to the sequential steps of two stage chilling, evaporative concentration, further chilling and vacuum evaporation.

Method of freezing foods

Abstract: A method of freezing foods which comprises the step of cooling a heat transfer device having an open top, and the step of bringing articles to be frozen in contact with one surface of the heat transfer device through a layer of brine and keeping the articles in such contact relation. Freezing of the articles progresses only from their respective portions at which they are in contact with the brine.

Waste package component interactions with Savannah River defense waste glass in a low-magnesium salt brine

Abstract: Interactive leaching experiments were performed with Savannah River 165 defense waste glass at 90°C in a low-magnesium salt brine (∼100 mg/l) with various amounts of steel present to simulate inter...

Drilling fluid additives for use in hard brine environments

Abstract: A drilling fluid additive is disclosed which will prevent water loss into subterranean formations during the drilling of oil and gas wells in hard brine environments. The drilling fluid additive comprises a hydrocarbon, an anionic surfactant, an alcohol, a sulfonated asphalt, a biopolymer, and optionally an organophilic clay, poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone-co-sodium-2-acryamido-2-methylpropane sulfonate, and water.

Chemical Fractionation of Brine in the McMurdo Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Abstract: : During the austral summers of 1976-77 and 1978-79, several ice cores were taken from the McMurdo Ice Shelf brine zone to investigate its thermal, physical and chemical properties. This brine zone consists of a series of superimposed brine layers (waves) that originate at the seaward edge of the ice shelf and migrate at various rates, depending upon their age and position in the ice shelf. The brine in these layers becomes increasingly concentrated as the waves migrate inland through the permeable ice shelf firn. Chemical analyses of brine samples from the youngest (uppermost) brine wave show that it contains sea salts in normal seawater proportions. Further inland, deeper and older brine layers, though slightly highly saline (S200%), are severely depleted in (S04)2- /Na+ ratio being an order of magnitude less than that of normal seawater. Analyses of Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, (So4)2- and C1-, together with solubility and temperature considerations, show that the sulfate depletion is due to selective precipitation of mirabilite, Na2S041OH2O. The location of the inland boundry of brine penetration is closely related to the depth at which the brine encounters the firn/ice transition. However, a small but measurable migration of brine is still occurring in otherwise impermeable ice; this is attributed to eutectic dissolution of the ice by concentrated brine as it moves into deeper and warmer parts of the McMurdo Ice Shelf.

Ferric Chloride, Thiourea and Brine Leach Recovery of Ag, Au and Pb from Complex Sulfides

Abstract: The Bureau of Mines recently investigated a hydrometallurgical procedure to recover gold, silver, and byproduct lead from a complex lead-zinc sulfide ore. A ferric chloride (Fecl3) preleach, at 40°C for six hours extracted about 50 percent of the zinc and formed insoluble silver and lead chlorides. Subsequent acid thiourea leaching, for one to three hours at 40°C, extracted about 85% of the gold and silver. Lead chloride was solubilized from the remaining residue with NaCl brine solution at 55°C in one hour. Lead was recovered from the brine solution in an electrolytic cell with an anion perm selective membrane at a current efficiency of 95 percent and current density of 100 A/m2. Spent FeCl3 leach solution was reoxidized in the anode compartment at a current efficiency between 75 and 95 percent.

Phase behavior of dilute sodium dodecyl sulfate-hexanol-brine systems

Abstract: Dilute aqueous “solutions” of anionic surfactants injected during enhanced oil recovery processes usually contain liquid crystalline material. Phase behavior has been studied in a model system containing sodium chloride brine with surfactant, alcohol, and salt contents maintained below 6, 10, and 3 weight percent respectively. Pseudoternary phase diagrams at constant salinities are used to represent the results. Some interpretation of the results is given in terms of micellar shape transformations produced by changes in the relative hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of surfactant-alcohol mixtures.

A model to estimate the depositional brine depths of ancient halite rocks: Implications for ancient subaqueous evaporite depositional environments

Abstract: A model is derived which allows a more general approach to the interpretation of bromine profiles in halite rocks than is possible with the models of Kuhn or Holser. Allowing for an open system, with influx and reflux, reduces the depth of brine necessary to generate a given salt deposit. Even very small and regular bromine gradients, which historically have been interpreted as the result of deposition from deep brine bodies, can be generated in an open system from brine no more than a few tens of metres deep. The bromine gradient produced from a given depth of brine is strongly dependent on the composition and amount of influx, but less so on the composition of brine already in the basin. A Zechstein profile is analysed which in a closed basin would require brine 2665 m deep. It can equally be modelled by influx of normal seawater which fully replenishes a basin no more than 140 m deep. A somewhat irregular profile from the Paradox Basin, instead of requiring a basin 100–400 m deep, can be modelled as being produced by deposition from brines only 10 m deep. Reflux in both cases can only be a few per cent of influx at a maximum.

Geothermal plant silica control apparatus and method

Abstract: Apparatus and method for minimizing silica scaling in steam flash vessels employed in a geothermal power plant energized by steam flashed from high temperature geothermal brine derived from a source such as the Salton Sea Geothermal Field or the Brawley Geothermal Field where the brine is substantially saturated with dissolved silica. The silica is preferentially precipitated upon silica seeds that are introduced into one or more flash crystallizer steam separators. The seeded brine is recirculated through each flash crystallizer a plurality of times under thermal power provided by the effects of flashing the incoming brine into an external draft tube so as to provide a sufficient residency time of the seeded brine in the flash crystallizer for the silica solution, which has become supersaturated because of the temperature reduction associated with the flashing, to be precipitated down to approximately saturation. The flashing brine stream is directed from the top of the draft tube into the flash crystallizer above the surface of the liquid brine, preferably directed downwardly at an inclind angle toward such surface, to prevent upward "geysering" of liquid brine and silica particles from such surface toward the vapor takeoff system leading to power turbines, and for increased flashing efficiency.

A population balance approach to direct‐contact secondary refrigerant freezing

Abstract: A population balance approach is used in developing an analysis of homogeneous freezing in a brine-ice slurry by direct-contact heat transfer to a dispersed secondary refrigerant. Exponential and beta distributions are assumed for the ice crystals and refrigerant droplets, respectively. The effects of freezer pressure (refrigerant temperature), inlet refrigerant drop size, and refrigerant and brine flow rates on well-mixed freezer characteristics are presented.

Clear brine fluids

Abstract: A clear brine fluid composition for use in servicing wells in the oil and gas industry comprising a solution of a zinc halide and a calcium halide in water having a density lying in the range of about 15 to about 22 ppg, a measured alkalinity lying in the range of about 0 up to about 1 normal and a measured zinc to calcium mole ratio lying in the range of about 1 to about 3.

Use of ammonium chloride solutions to remove sulfonate surfactants from crude oil

Abstract: Sulfonate surfactants are removed from crude oil or crude oil emulsions, such as may be produced using enhanced recovery methods, by mixing with an aqueous solution of synthetic brine such as ammonium chloride, allowing the phases to separate, and removing the aqueous phase containing brine and sulfonates from the organic phase containing hydrocarbons.

Method of purifying brine for electrolytic chemical production

Abstract: The brine purifying system employs a multistage filtering apparatus comprising a plurality of the same filter units piled up one over another to form a plurality of cascaded filtering stages. When the filter layers of the filter units are clogged with unsoluble matters, the operation of the multistage filtering apparatus is interrupted, then a solvent for the unsoluble matters is circulated through the multistage filtering apparatus to remove the unsoluble matters arrested by the filter layers by dissolving the same therein. Then, a washing liquid is circulated through the multistage filtering apparatus to wash the multistage filtering apparatus completely. The solvent and the washing liquid used for regenerating and washing the multistage filtering apparatus are recovered and are used for dissolving salt to prepare saturated brine. The unsoluble matters thus removed from the filter layers are removed by being precipitated in a precipitating tank.

The production of potassium sulphate

Abstract: This invention relates especially to the production of potassium sulphate which is used primarily as a specialty fertilizer The process presented here uses ion exchange to combine soluble sulphates such as sodium sulphate with potassium chloride to produce a low chloride ion containing potassium sulphate product which is desirable for agricultural and industrial markets In particular, in the preferred mode of ion exchange, an anion exchange resin is loaded with sulphate ion using sodium sulphate The sulphate laden resin is then treated with potassium chloride brine from a recycle stream The exit brine containing potassium sulphate and potassium chloride is treated with potassium chloride to salt out the bulk of the potassium sulphate which is then separated or filtered off The mother liquor which is rich in potassium chloride is available for another production cycle In the regeneration cycle, the exit regeneration brine containing sodium chloride and sodium sulphate is treated with solid sodium chloride to salt out the sodium sulphate for separation and recyle to the regeneration step Dilute sulphate brines can also be used for regeneration

Self-contained oil well salt water concentration system

Abstract: A method for concentrating salt water. Salt water is separated from oil-water mixture which has been produced from a well. Salt water is introduced into a recirculating weir and mixed with more concentrated brine. Brine is recirculated through a thermal syphon apparatus. Recirculation includes passing brine, including some salt water, from weir into boiler vessel. Brine is heated within boiler vessel to a boiling temperature whereby brine, while boiling, generates steam which passes up out of weir. All of foregoing steps are performed at atmospheric pressure. The density of brine is sensed at a location in the lower vicinity of weir. Concentrated brine is released from lower vicinity when density at sensed temperature is at a level corresponding to a brine concentration near the precipitation of salt from solution. Salt water and brine is passed through a magnetic water treating unit. The concentrated brine, as released, is passed into a holding vessel.

Method of and means for disposing of waste salts and brines

Abstract: Waste salts and brines are disposed of by constructing salt water solar pond power plants, concentrating the waste salts and brines, and then introducing them into the heat storage layers of the solar ponds of the power plants. The basins in which such solar ponds are constructed are made deeper than needed to sustain operation of the power plant at its designed output; and after a deep basin is filled, the concentrated brine from the heat storage layer is available to construct another solar pond which is then available for storing additional waste salts. In concentrating the waste salts, sodium chloride will precipitate; and this material can be deposited at the bottom of the solar ponds to seal the same against leakage.