Veolia Water Technologies will supply HPD crystallization systems that will produce sulfate of potash (SOP) fertilizer in Western Australia. Perth-based Salt Lake Potash Ltd. is developing the Lake Way potash-mining project to produce 245,000 tons per year of SOP (K2SO4) 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 crystallizers: one to grow 32 ton/h of high-purity potassium sulfate crystals, the other to recycle 54 ton/h 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 center in Plainfield, Illinois (USA). 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 optimized capital investments but also lowered operating costs through a system design that minimizes fouling and cleaning requirements.
“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 crystallizer technology will help the flagship Lake Way project set the industry benchmark in producing high-grade SOP,” said Jim Brown, CEO of Veolia Water Technologies Americas.