UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. GEORGE B. BURNHAM, OF BOROSOLVAY, CALIFORNIA. PROCESS OF OBTAINING POTASSIUM SODIUM SULFATE FROM SALINE LIQUORS, 1,821,282, Noprawing, To all whom it may concern: Be it known that I, Grorar B. Burst a citizen of the United States, residing ut Borosolvay, in the county of San Bernar- 5 dino and State of California, have invented acettain new and useful Process of Obtain ing Potassium Sodium Sulfate from Saling Liquors, of which the following is. a spec fication. ‘This invention relates to the process of obtaining potassium sodium sulfate from saline Tiquors containing potassium by means of adding sodium sulfate, or tion of sodium sulfate. ‘An object of the invention is to provide cheap process for obtaining potassium sodium, sulfate from saline liquors and also to obtain the potassium sodium sulfate free from carbonates and borates where. I 20 quantities of the latter are presént in Vigor. other advo invention possesses other _advan- tageous features, some.of which, with tho foregoing, will bo set forth in the following. 28 description where I shall outline in full one form of the process of my invention. I shall describe the process as applied to mother Tiquor brines left, over in the process of re- ing potash from Searles Lake in Cali- 30 fornia, ‘but it is to be understood. that the rocess is not limited to this particular “These mother liquor brines are relatively high in sodium, potassium, chlorid, earbon- 36 ate and borate, and low in’'sulfate. Hitherto, treatment of these brines to ob- tain potassium chlorid produces @ deposit of mixed salts, but with my process of pro- ducing’ potassium sodium sulfate a, pire 40 double salt of potassium is obtained free from other salts. It is preferred to use a brino ns high in potassium as possible. When a brine is en- countered which is relatively much higher 48 in sulfate than ium, or is saturated with sodinm sulfate, it will be nocessury to treat. the brine to increase the proportion of potassium to the sulfate. Tho ratio of tho potassium and sulfate 50 ions in the brine may var il still be able to produce pota: fate. Tho theoretical limit of the a of the sulfite ions in the brine nist be such that the concentrated brine is not saturated 68 with sodimn sulfate, Howover, even if tho concentrated brine is nearly but not quito Application flea 10 solu 6 Speettoation of Letters Patent, ne 16, Patented Nov. 11, 1919. 1019. Serial Wo, 306,490. saturated with sodium sulfate it can still, be used to provtuce tho double salt,” small amount of sodium sulfate is added anda smnall amount of potassium sodium sulfate is obtained. ‘The yield is small because of working with the brine too close to the saturation point of sodium sulfate, and ginal] yields are not desirable commercially. The farther the brine is away from this saturation point of sodium sulfate the more sodiuin sulfate can be added to the brine and the greater will be tle yield of the double salt.” For this reason, it is commercially more feasible to use brines much richer in potassium than in sulfate, for then the bring would be far from the saturation point of sodium sulfat Jn. the preferred form of my process solution of sodinm sulfate in water is added to the mother liquor brine of Searles Lake, which is fairly rich in potassium, and ig therefore far from the saturation point of sodium sulfnte. Care is taken not to add too much sodium sulfate solution to cause ‘the resulting liquor to become immediately saturated with sodium sulfate upon eva] ation, The amount of sodium sulfate that should be added to obtain the best results will depend upon the composition of the brine. ‘This mixture of mother liquor brine and sodinm sulfate soltion is then allowed to evaporate and the double salt, potassium sori sulfate, (KNe)SOp is crystallized out. “Evaporation ‘is continued until an- other salt begins to crystallize ont, At this point the remaining liquor is removed, and the potassium sodium sulfate is gathered, ried or filtered, and is then ready for the market as a fertilizer, Sometimes evaporation may continue a Jittle beyond the point, where other salts begin to crystallize, if these other salts crystallize out in such small proportion that they do not materially impair the value of the. potassium sodium sulfate being de- a cases it may be desirable to add Ifate directly to the mother of adding a solution of sodium sulfate in water and evaporating. Tn stich eases 2 chentical renetion takes place whereby the sodium sulfate goes inte soli. tion and potassium sodium sulfate ceystal izes out of the solution at the sine time, The evaporation step is thus eliminated by. 60 65 10 15 80 90 100 105 no10 as tus mecnod, but it usually requires the ad- dition of finely ground sodium sulfate and considerable agitation in order to make the chemical reaction complete. ° Telaim: 1. The process of obtaining potassium sodium sulfate from concentrated liquors not saturated with sodium sulfate, but con- taining sufficient potassium ions’ to more than saturate the liquor with potassium sodium sulfate upon the addition of sodium sulfate, which consists in adding sodium sulfate whereby potassium sodium sulfate is crystallized out. 9. The process of obtaining jum sodium sulfate from liquors containing po- 41,821,282 tassium ions and not saturated with sodium sulfate, which consists ip adding a, solution of sodium sulfate ‘and. evaporating, the liquor to crystallize out potassium sodium sulfate. . 3, The process of obtaining potassium sodium sulfate from liquors containing po- tassium, and other ions, which consists. in adding » solution of sodium sulfate, evapo- rating’ the liquor to crystallize out potas- sium sodium sulfate, continuing the evapo- vation to saturation with other salts, remov- ing the liquor from the deposited crystals, and recovering the potassiuin sodiuin sul? so ate. 20 25 GEORGE B. BURNHAM.