Design of novel seawater bittern recovery process for CO2 and SOx utilization

Abstract

Considerable seawater bittern is produced during salt production. Seawater bittern can be used to reduce CO2 and SOx because of the presence of valuable mineral ions, such as K+ and Mg2+, which react with the carbonate and sulfate ions present in high concentrations. In this study, a novel seawater bittern recovery process is proposed for CO2 and SOx utilization. The proposed process has the following steps: (1) metal ion separation of the seawater bittern to produce KOH and Mg(OH)2; (2) SOx capture and utilization using the generated Mg(OH)2; (3) CO2 capture and utilization using the generated KOH. The pay-back period (PBP) was calculated to verify the economic feasibility of the proposed process. The results revealed an SOx and a CO2 capture efficiency of approximately 99 % and 98 %, respectively. Furthermore, the annual net revenue was approximately 153,439 USD/y based on the profit obtained from the generated product and savings on absorbent. Thus, the PBP was approximately 6.2 y.