Lithium extraction from Chinese salt-lake brines: opportunities, challenges, and future outlook
Chinese salt-lake brine is mainly of the magnesium sulfate subtype with a high Mg/Li ratio. To extract high purity lithium chloride from Chinese brine has been a decade-long challenge. This review summarizes the state-of-the-art of lithium extraction from Chinese salt-lake brine.
Perspective
Three promising applications of microbial electrochemistry for the water sector
The potential applications of microbial electrochemistry are many; three promising ones are sensors, in situ bioremediation, and metal recovery.
A review of the management and treatment of brine solutions
This paper critically reviews current technologies for concentrate management including emerging membrane technologies, which could recover valuable minerals from brine solutions.
Critical Review
Mining valuable minerals from seawater: a critical review
Methods of extracting valuable minerals from seawater and seawater brines generated in desalination plants are critically reviewed in this paper.
On the optimal design of forward osmosis desalination systems with NH3–CO2–H2O solutions
The optimal working pressure and composition of the draw solution is identified. The forward osmosis process is compared with reverse osmosis and thermal desalination in terms of specific work, membrane area, and second law efficiency.
Silica fouling in coal seam gas water reverse osmosis desalination
Silica fouling was studied in RO desalination of high salinity (30–60 g L−1 as NaCl) coal seam gas (CSG) water for a range of silica concentrations, pH conditions and dissolved aluminium concentrations.
Demonstration of membrane distillation on textile waste water: assessment of long term performance, membrane cleaning and waste heat integration
A three month membrane distillation trial demonstrated innovative pretreatments, cleaning and waste heat integration as an inland textile industry wastewater solution.
Enhanced water recovery in the coal seam gas industry using a dual reverse osmosis system
A robust method involving intermediate nanofiltration in a dual stage RO system to achieve high water recovery rates from coal seam water has been developed.
Synergistic effect of combined colloidal and organic fouling in membrane distillation: Measurements and mechanisms
We examined the synergistic effect of combined fouling in MD process with three organic foulants – alginate, bovine serum albumin, and humic acid – in the presence of colloidal silica particles.
About this collection
Guest Edited by Long Nghiem (University of Wollongong, Australia), Enrico Drioli (Università della Calabria, Italy), Tzahi Cath (Colorado School of Mines, USA) and Tao He (Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, China), this themed collection in Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology showcases some of the latest work being conducted in the field of brine management technology.
Brine or concentrate management represents both challenges in terms of saline wastewater disposal and opportunities regarding the recovery of valuable minerals. Successful integration of brine management techniques and other processes can open up a new horizon for water and wastewater treatment, but will require complementary and innovative development in both process engineering and materials science. The papers in this collection cover an array of research topics in process engineering and materials sciences specific toward the development or further improvement of brine management technologies.