Brine disposal process for Morcinek coal mine

Conference · Sat Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:426255

Tait, J H ^[1]

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1. Aquatech Services, Inc., Citrus Heights, CA (United States)

This paper describes the work to develop a commercial brine disposal process for the Morcinek mine, located 45 km south of the city of Katowice in Poland. Currently, brine is discharged into the Odra river and methane from the mine is released into the atmosphere. The process would use the released methane and convert a large percentage of the brine into potable water for commercial use. Thus, the proposed process has two environmental benefits. The brine salinity is about 31,100 ppm. Major brine components are Na (10,300 ppm), Ca (1,170 ppm), Mg (460 ppm), Cl (18,500 ppm) and SO{sub 4}{sup 2-} (252 ppm). Present in smaller amounts are K, S, Sr, B, Ba and NO{sub 3}. The process integrates a reverse osmosis (RO) unit and a submerged combustion evaporator. Extensive studies made at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory established the pretreatment method of the brine before it enters the RO unit. Without adequate pretreatment, mineral phases in the brine would become super-saturated and would precipitate in the RO unit. The pretreatment consists of first adding sodium carbonate to increase both the pH and the carbonate concentration of the brine. This addition causes precipitation of carbonate solids containing Ca, Mg, Sr, and Ba. After filtration of these precipitates, the fluid is acidified with HCl to prevent precipitation in the RO unit as the brine increases in salinity.

• Research Organization: USDOE Morgantown Energy Technology Center, WV (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: FG03-91ER81105
• OSTI ID: 426255
• Report Number(s): DOE/METC--95/1017-Vol.1; CONF-950494--Vol.1; ON: DE95009703
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
BRINES
COAL MINES
METHANE
OSMOSIS
POLAND
WASTE DISPOSAL