K+S Group, Kassel, said on April 26 it is now participating in a joint project to test a new process for treating saline water and recovering dissolved minerals. The joint project, which is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and is headed by K-UTEC AG Salt Technologies, will be implemented over the next three years.
In addition to K+S, other partners in the project include the Fraunhofer Institute for Ceramic Technologies and Systems IKTS, Solarspring GmbH, and LMBV mbH.
Using the example of saline waters from tailings piles of the potash industry, it will be investigated whether the membrane distillation process offers advantages in water treatment compared to conventional evaporation on an industrial scale.