Project Briefs:
Rare Earth Mine Recycles Brine Stream for Acid and Caustic Production with SAMCO’s Multi-Stage Brine Conditioning System
Project Overview
When a rare earth mine in North America sought to improve efficiency by recovering brine for acid and caustic production, it turned to SAMCO for a brine conditioning circuit to handle its complex blend of contaminants.
Objective
Remove heavy metals and hardness from complex hydrometallurgical brine stream for downstream electrochemical production operations.
- Reduce calcium to 20 ppb
- Reduce magnesium to 20 ppb
Scope of Service
SAMCO delivered a turnkey brine conditioning system with comprehensive process design and engineering, system fabrication, controls integration, commissioning, startup training and support.
Challenges
- Highly complex contaminant stream
- Stringent purity requirements for acid and caustic production
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Highly complex contaminant stream
Solution
SAMCO delivered a high capacity brine recovery system consisting of four integrated ion exchange (IX) circuits. To efficiently manage the brine stream’s complex contaminants, the solution utilized paired IX columns in lead-lag configuration for each of four brine processing stages, including primary softening, polishing softening, and heavy metals removal, along with a single IX column for TOC removal. SAMCO performed construction and installation of the prepackaged system to deliver a fast-track turnkey solution. To minimize operational demands, the system included programmable logic controllers (PLC) with remote telemetry capabilities, enabling automated system monitoring.
Technology
Project deliverables and equipment included:
- 600 GPM IX pressure vessels
- Pipe rack assemblies
- Effluent and influent pumps
- PLC controls