| OCR Text |
Show EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY There is great mineral wealth in the Great Salt Lake although the full mineral potential and the economic feasibility of extraction are not fully known. Extractive industries currently utilizing the brines produce sodium, potassium and magnesium compounds ( see Table 13) and hope to produce lithium chemicals and salts in the future. Oil and natural gas have also been found in ground associated with the Lake. Table 14 shows the industries now utilizing the Lake brines as a raw material. CHEMICAL FEASIBILITY The dissolved solids in the Lake are present as ions in solution ( see Table 15). It is technically feasible to join positively charged ions with negatively charged ions to produce innumerable compounds from the Lake brine. Those compounds of economic importance are those which can be extracted from the Lake brine in large scale commercial operations with existing technology. Solar evaporation, precipitation, heat exchange and resin exchange are all possible means of brine extraction. The solubility of the minerals in the Lake is affected by the temperature and the density of the brine, changes in atmospheric pressure, and the ratio of minerals present in the brine. By affecting a change in any or all of these functions, it is possible to alter the solubility of the minerals in the brine and selectively extract them. Solar Evaporation Currently, the most practical way to extract minerals from the Lake |
