Brine mineral precipitation extraction
AssigneeNetZeroImpact LLC
InventorsAnand DEWAGAN, James Patten
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A brine mineral precipitator can include a settling tank with a solids collection mechanism and a solids outlet in a lower portion of the settling tank. An adjustable weir outlet can control outflow of brine from an upper portion of the settling tank. A recirculation pathway can be inside the settling tank and operatively couple to a recirculation pump to draw brine and solids upward from the lower portion of the settling tank. A brine inlet can be connected to the recirculation pathway and to a source of a pH-adjusting reagent, and configured to inject the pH-adjusting reagent into the recirculation pathway to be mixed with the brine.
Claims27
A brine mineral precipitator comprising:
- a settling tank;
- a solid collection mechanism in a lower portion of the settling tank;
- a solids outlet in the lower portion of the settling tank;
- an adjustable weir outlet configured to control outflow of brine from an upper portion of the settling tank;
- a recirculation pathway operatively coupled to a recirculation pump configured to draw brine and solids upward from the lower portion to the upper portion of the settling tank;
- a brine inlet connected to the recirculation pathway and to a brine source, configured to direct brine into the recirculation pathway;
- and
- a reagent inlet connected to the recirculation pathway and to a source of a pH-adjusting reagent, configured to inject the pH-adjusting reagent into the recirculation pathway to be mixed with the brine.
A brine processing system, comprising:
- a plurality of brine mineral precipitators connected in series, wherein individual brine mineral precipitators comprise:
- a settling tank,
- a solids outlet in a lower portion of the settling tank,
- an adjustable weir outlet configured to control outflow of brine from an upper portion of the settling tank,
- a brine inlet configured to introduce brine into the settling tank, and
- a reagent inlet configured to introduce a pH-adjusting reagent from a source of the pH-adjusting reagent into the settling tank to be mixed with the brine;
- wherein a first brine mineral precipitator of the plurality of brine mineral precipitators receives brine from an initial brine source through its brine inlet, and wherein subsequent brine mineral precipitators in the series receive brine from the adjustable weir outlet of a previous brine mineral precipitator in the series.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.