SEPARATION OF MAGNESIUM CHLORIDE FROM SEA WATER BY PREFERENTIAL SALT SEPARATION (PSS)

Magnesium chloride is typically extracted from sea water on an industrial scale by precipitating it as magnesium hydroxide, then converting it to the chloride by adding hydrochloric acid. This process is known as the Dow process which uses the chemical approach in producing magnesium chloride. Kettani and Abdel-Aal [1], proposed a physical separation procedure known as the Preferential Salt Separation (PSS) to obtain magnesium chloride directly from sea water. In principle, the PSS concept is based on the selective separation of salts during the evaporation. In this paper, analysis of the PSS concept is carried out for two proposed distinctive designs: the dynamic (continuous) flow model and the static (batch) flow model. Separation of magnesium chloride is anticipated using solar energy for evaporating sea water. Preliminary experimental results for simulated systems are reported for each case.