The Effect of Slow Evaporation on Ca, Na, K, and Mg Concentration in Natural Brine from Ciseeng, West Java

Abstract

Indonesia’s location in the ring of fire gives Indonesia a lot of natural resources such as natural brine water from Ciseeng, West Java. Natural brine contains a lot of minerals such as Na, K, Ca, Mg. and could potentially be the source of those elements. One of the common process for recovering minerals in brine water is through solar evaporation process. This process is ineffective because the evaporation stops in the night time. The purposes of this study are to find another method for concentrating brine, characterize natural brine from Ciseeng, West Java, and investigate the effect of new evaporation method to the brine. In this work, the author conducted the evaporation using electric heater to keep the solution in the desired temperature coupled with blowers to blow air to the surface of the solution for 10 days. The volume of the system was maintained by making up the evaporated water with fresh brine. The results indicate that the evaporation can increase the Mg, Na, and K concentration up to 282%, 283%, and 207%, respectively, while the Ca concentration stays relatively constant compared to the fresh brine. The brine’s °Bé increase from 2.5 to 6. In the process, about 158% of Ca and 51% of Na were recovered as precipitate.