Claims
- 1. A process of making a high purity brine from a salt source contaminated with sulfate ions and alkaline (earth) metal ions other than sodium, wherein said process comprises dissolving said salt source in water in the presence of a retarding agent, wherein said retarding agent comprises at least a low and a high molecular weight compound, and wherein said retarding agent is present in an amount effective to reduce the level of said sulfate ions and alkaline (earth) metal ions dissolved in said brine, thereby producing a high purity brine.
- 2. The process of claim 1 wherein said salt source is contaminated with sulfate ions and calcium ions.
- 3. The process of claim 2 wherein the calcium ion and sulfate ion level is reduced such that at most 80% of the alkaline (earth) metal sulfates is dissolved when compared to a blank dissolution step wherein the combination of retarding agents is not used.
- 4. The process of claim 1, wherein the two compounds comprising the retarding agent show a synergistic effect in retarding the dissolution of sulfate ions and alkaline (earth) metal ions other than sodium.
- 5. The process of claim 1 wherein at least one of the compounds of said retarding agent has a molecular weight of less than 1000 and the other compound has a higher molecular weight than that of the previous compound.
- 6. The process of claim 3 wherein the higher molecular weight compound of said retarding agent is selected from the group consisting of compounds with, optionally substituted, linear or branched, alkyl backbones that are functionalized with sulfonate, sulfate, phosphite, phosphonate, phosphate, and/or carboxyl groups.
- 7. The process of claim 6 wherein the higher molecular weight compound is selected from the group consisting of lignosulfates, phospholipides, polyacrylates, and mixtures thereof.
- 8. The process of claim 5 wherein the lower weight compound of said retarding agent is selected from the group consisting of:
alkylbenzene sulfonates, whereof the alkyl groups can be linear or branched, phosphates that are water-soluble, ethoxylated compounds with one or more sulfite, sulfonate, sulfate, phosphite, phosphonate, phosphate, and/or carboxylgroups, and C2-C40 alkyl compounds with one or more sulfite, sulfonate, sulfate, phosphite, phosphonate, phosphate, and/or carboxyl groups.
- 9. The process of claim 1 wherein the retarding agent comprises a mixture of low- and high-molecular weight phospholipids.
- 10. The process of claim 1 wherein the brine is further purified by means of a conventional chemical treatment.
- 11. Purified brine produced by the process of claim 1.
- 12. A process of making a high purity brine from a salt source contaminated with sulfate ions and alkaline (earth) metal ions other than sodium, wherein said process comprises dissolving said salt source in water in the presence of a retarding agent, wherein said retarding agent comprises at least one low molecular weight compound and at least one high molecular weight compound, wherein
I) said at least one low molecular weight compound is selected from the group consisting essentially of
alkylbenzene sulfonates, whereof the alkyl groups can be linear or branched, phosphates that are water-soluble, ethoxylated compounds with one or more sulfite, sulfonate, sulfate, phosphite, phosphonate, phosphate, and/or carboxylgroups, and C2-C40 alkyl compounds with one or more sulfite, sulfonate, sulfate, phosphite, phosphonate, phosphate, and/or carboxyl groups, and II) said at least one high molecular weight compound is selected from the group consisting essentially of lignosulfates, phospholipides, polyacrylates.
- 13. The process of claim 9 wherein said phospholipids are derived from yeast cells.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
01202339.6 |
Jun 2001 |
EP |
|
Parent Case Info
[0001] The present application claims priority of U.S. provisional application No. 60/299,654 filed on Jun. 20, 2001 and European patent application No. 01202339.6 filed on Jun. 19, 2001.
Provisional Applications (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
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60299654 |
Jun 2001 |
US |