Veolia Water Technologies will provide key processing technologies integrating HPD® crystallisation systems designed to produce high-quality sulfate of potash (SOP). In a world with a growing emerging class of more affluent consumers, the demand for high-value foods such as fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and coffee is soaring. Thanks to greenhouses and precision irrigation, these plants are grown in arid areas with otherwise inhospitable soils and climates. But because some of these specialty crops are sensitive to chloride, traditional potassium fertilizers cannot be applied. In Turkey, the solution comes at a high cost. That means, importing a multi-nutrient fertilizer that is chloride-free and water-soluble: potassium sulfate or SOP.
To make this product more affordable and locally available, Istanbul, Turkey-based Alkim Alkali Kimya A.S. (Alkim), one of the largest sodium sulfate producers in the world, decided to invest in its Koralkim facility near Dazkiri on the coast of lake Acigöl to produce up to 50 000 tpy of soluble-grade SOP. Because SOP is not a naturally occurring mineral, Alkim awarded Veolia a contract to supply HPD® crystallisation technology to produce SOP in crystalline, fully-soluble form. The chemical reaction between purified potassium chloride and brine saturated with sulfate salts takes place inside draft tube baffle crystallisers which allow for the reaction time under controlled temperature to promote the growth of highly-pure SOP crystals.
Veolia’s solution, which also includes multiple-effect crystallisers to produce almost 35.000 tpy of food-grade sodium chloride as a by-product, optimises capital investment by utilising Alkim’s existing cogeneration units. Operating expenses are controlled by maximising water and steam economies through the recovery of clean condensate and residual heat used for dissolving and heating the incoming solution of potassium chloride. Alkim has relied on Veolia two times before to deliver the initial crystallisation system and a subsequent expansion at the facility in Çayirhan near Anakaraand to produce pure sodium sulfate from solution-mined Glauberite extracted from underground natural deposits.
The success of those installations along with that of the laboratory bench testing performed to de-risk the project and validate the design and performance projections, gave Alkim the confidence to select Veolia once again. “This is a continuation of working together with Veolia on several projects for many years,” said Reha Kora, Alkim’s CEO. “We have the total confidence that this SOP project will be realised with great success.” Jim Brown, CEO of Veolia Water Technologies Americas, stresses that “HPD crystallisation technologies exemplify the value that Veolia brings to the fertilizer industry in extracting soluble crop nutrients with the most efficient energy and water use.”
