Veolia to supply crystallisation systems for Lake Way project

Salt Lake Potash is developing the Lake Way potash mining project to produce 245 000 tpy of SOP from dry salt lake deposits in the Northern Goldfields region of Western Australia. To recover low-cost high-grade SOP, the production uses solar evaporation to concentrate the hypersaline, potassium-rich brines for salt harvesting.

To further process these solids, Veolia will design and supply two HPD crystallisers: one to grow 32 t of high-purity potassium sulfate crystals every hour, the other to recycle 54 tph of solids to yield the maximum potassium recovery.

As part of this contract, Veolia provided bench-scale testing at Veolia’s Phillip J. Stewart Technology centre in Plainfield, Illinois, US. The results validated the feed chemistry, simulated the optimal flowsheet design, and confirmed process performance projections that helped to de-risk the project.

To accelerate this fast-track project and achieve the delivery schedule, Veolia staged the progress to advance the basic engineering and testing simultaneously. These actions not only optimised capital investments but also lowered operating costs through a system design that minimises fouling and cleaning requirements.

Jim Brown, CEO of Veolia Water Technologies, said: “We are pleased to support Salt Lake Potash in delivering natural fertilizers to a market hungry for specialty potash nutrients. Based on test work which confirmed the process viability our reliable proven crystalliser technology will help the flagship Lake Way project set the industry benchmark in producing high-grade SOP.”

Read the article online at: https://www.worldfertilizer.com/potash/15052020/veolia-to-supply-crystallisation-systems-for-lake-way-project/