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Red Sea – Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Program

Chemical Industry Analysis Study

Final Report

Prepared by:

Vladimir Zbranek

March 2013

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Table of Contents

Section:

1. Introduction

2. Visit to Dead Sea Works (DSW) and Arab Potash Company (APC)

3. Description of Chemical Processes at DSW and APC

4. Dead Sea Brine Consumption by DSW and APC

5. Analysis on Potential to Reduce Dead Sea Brine Consumption

6. Observations and Recommendations

Appendices:

A: Dead Sea Works Technology and Meeting Notes

B: Arab Potash Technology and History of Operations

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Section – 1: Introduction

This report is prepared in support of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Program organized by the Word Bank. The original draft version is expanded here to reflect my discussions with members of Panel of Experts and other attendees of the Stakeholders Meetings held in Jordan and Israel in February 2013.

The level of the Dead Sea is currently dropping by alarming rate of approximately 1 m/year. The evaporation rate from Dead Sea averages, over the last two decades, 1.15 m/year. This has been historically balanced to some extend by inflows from Jordan River and other regional rivers and springs. The contribution from these natural sources is significantly diminished, thus contributing to a major drop of the Dead Sea level. Expansion of human habitation and development of agriculture along the Jordan River Valley results in increasing demand for irrigation and drinking water. This situation is further affected by significant consumption of Dead Sea brine by chemical plants operating in Israel and Jordan.

I lived and worked in this area, on Jordanian side of Dead Sea for over two years. I traveled through the Jordan valley and visited Israel and Dead Sea Works. During this time I observed that agriculture is a significant source of livelihood and revenues in the region. The chemical facilities in Jordan (Arab Potash Company), in Israel (Dead Sea Works) are an important source of employment and revenues in both countries. As such, it is not practical to consider elimination of these activities and other means must be considered to address the drop of the Dead Sea level.

I can see four major considerations in this case. One is the “do-nothing” scenario, which is the current situation. The second is better management of water used for irrigation and personal use. This is a socio-economic issue and its possibilities and merits are not discussed in this technical report. The third consideration is bringing water from Red Sea, Mediterranean, or Turkey, to compensate for water losses, stabilize Dead Sea level and in process, provide a new source of potable water for the region. Other participants in the Red Sea-Dead Sea Conveyance Study Program address logistics and environmental, economical and political impacts of these options. The fourths consideration is reduction of the net withdrawal of Dead Sea brine and reduced use of fresh water at the potash industries. This option is addressed later in this technical report.

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The objectives of this Chemical Industry Analysis Study are:

• Review data from Dead Sea Works and Arab Potash Company, and

evaluate, if their reported net consumptions of Dead Sea brine are

realistic.

• To document the chemical processes currently used by these industries.

• To document other processes that may be applicable in the Dead Sea

setting and that would result in substantial reduction in demand for Dead

Sea brine.

To achieve these objectives the following Scope of Work was established.

Scope of Work for the Chemical Industry Analysis Study:

1. Desk research on the chemical processes used by Dead Sea Works and the

Arab Potash Company.

2. Site visit to the Dead Sea Works and Arab Potash Company in order to:

- Meet with plant professionals.

- Document / confirm the chemical processes used by each plant.

- Obtain data on net brine withdrawals from the Dead Sea.

- Discuss potential for future plant expansions and process modifications.

- Discuss potential impact of Red Sea water on their operations.

- Discuss impact of the Red Sea conveyance line on Wadi Arava.

- Explore other relevant topics.

3. Evaluate available data and estimate annual net withdrawals from the Dead Sea

by the Dead Sea Works and by Jordan Potash Company.

4. Write a Technical Report on the above subjects.

5. Attend a Stakeholders Meeting and hold discussions with the Panel of Experts

for the Study Program.

6. Other relevant and related tasks as requested by the World Bank Team Leader.

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Section – 2: Visit to Dead Sea Works and Arab Potash Company

World Bank organized a site visit and meetings with professionals of both companies to satisfy the objectives stated above and other needs of World Bank team. My trip started with introductory meeting at World Bank offices in Washington, DC including presentation of the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Program.

Meeting at Dead Sea Works on 25. June 2012:

Participants:

Dead Sea Works: Tovi Shor, Manager of Infrastructure Affairs

Dr. Rebecca Granot, Researcher R&D

World Bank: Alex McPhail, World Bank Team Leader

Gershon Vilan, Member Study Management Unit (Israel)

Yousef Ayadi, Member Study Management Unit (Jordan)

Vladimir Zbranek, World Bank Consultant

Salient Points of Discussions:

• DSW is the main employer in the south area of the country, has 1500 direct employees.

• DSW contribution to Israel Gross National Product (GNP) exceeds 1% and annual exports are about $2.3 billion.

• DSW is providing support to hotels in the Dead Sea area. • DSW plan for 10% increase in production is currently on hold. • Existing DSW evaporation ponds area is 145 km2. • Annual DSW net pumping rate from Dead Sea in 2010 was 168 million m3.

Average rate is 150 to 160 million m3 per year. Combined net rate for DSW and APC is 250 to 280 million m3.

• DSW calculations indicate that approximately 50% of volume of the return brine to Dead Sea is seepage. There is a project planned to block or reduce the seepage.

• Precipitation of minerals in evaporation pans: 25 million tons of salt (NaCl), 18 million tons of carnallite.

• Annual production of potash is about 3.5 million tons. • “Red to Dead Sea Project” unknowns and concerns:

o Simulations do not address extent of mixing, concentrations, depth. Will there be stratification? Impact of in-flow point?

o Main concern – dilution of feed (reduced potassium concentration).

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o Red Sea pipeline on the Wadi Arava is not viable concept. Main concerns: it is a flood zone, unstable, with unknown locations of buried mines.

Visit to intake pump station:

There are four intake pumps with 25,000 m3/hour capacities; discharge elevation to channel is 30 m; motors 4400 kW.

Meetings at Arab Potash Company on 27. June 2012:

Participants:

Arab Potash Co.: Dr. Rod McEachern, Dep. Gen. Manager Technical Affairs

Eng. Jamal Amira, Technical Manager

Eng. Emad Talafeha, Solar Ponds Superintendent

World Bank: Alex McPhail, World Bank Team Leader

Gershon Vilan, Member Study Management Unit (Israel)

Yousef Ayadi, Member Study Management Unit (Jordan)

Vladimir Zbranek, World Bank Consultant

Salient Points of Discussion:

• APC potash production capacity is 2.5 million tons/year. Now running at 2.25.

• Evaporation pans area is now 112 km2. There is a 5 to 7 year plan for additional 31 km2.

• 16 to 18 million tons of salt crystallized in halite ponds annually. • Fresh water usage at APC is 5.5 m3/ton potash. • Internal brine recycles to carnallite ponds are used to maximize KCl

recovery. • Eng. Amira currently chairs Water Conservation Committee and new

studies for water conservation and reuse. This includes also handling of 2.5 to 3 million m3/year agricultural run-off.

• APC is concerned about potential prospect of routing the Red Sea pipeline through Wadi Arava and dykes separating APC and DSW evaporation ponds. The World Bank team was given a tour of the dykes and observed indications of unstable nature of this area.

• Main concern of APC regarding Red Sea inflow to Dead Sea is dilution of their feed stock, so called “K-value”, or reduction of potassium

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concentration of the intake brine. Also, they suggested that the Red Sea discharge should be in the Mujib area, not as planned.

Visit to intake pump station:

Combined capacity of four intake pumps is 18 m3/sec (equivalent of 16,200 m3/hour per pump). The level at the intake point dropped 27 meters from year 1980.

Section – 3: Description of Chemical Processes at DSW and APC

Dead Sea brine is a rich source of industrial minerals. Concentrations may vary seasonally and within depth profile. The Table-1 below shows the analyses of intake brine provided by DSW and APC. It should be noted that these are annual averages, but it also indicates that the Dead Sea brine composition remains fairly constant.

Table ‐ 1: Dead Sea Works and Arab Potash ‐ Dead Sea Brine Analyses Year Facility % Mg % Ca % K % Na

2011 Dead Sea Works 4.00% 1.56% 0.66% 2.56%Arab Potash 4.00% 1.47% 0.66% 2.48%





2006 Dead Sea Works N.D. N.D. 0.65% N.D.Arab Potash 3.89% 1.53% 0.64% 2.62%

6‐year average Dead Sea Works 3.96% 1.57% 0.66% 2.62%Arab Potash 4.00% 1.48% 0.66% 2.53%

The average chloride and bromide analyses of the Dead Sea brine are 19% and 0.5% respectively.

For comparison, below is a typical sea water analysis:

Magnesium Sodium Calcium Potassium Chlorides Bromides 0.13% 1.07% 0.04% 0.04% 1.9% 0.007%

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The relative contents of magnesium, potassium and bromide in the Dead Sea brine are very high, thus the Dead Sea brine, aside from much higher mineral concentrations, is more suitable for recovery of these elements than typical sea water.

All minerals in Dead Sea have commercial value but economics of production of marketable products play an important role in the Dead Sea operations. Potassium chloride (potash), magnesium metal, magnesium oxide (magnesia), other magnesium chemicals, sodium chloride, bromine, cosmetic salts and mud are produced from the Dead Sea. The main product of both facilities is potassium chloride (potash). The recovery processes utilized at both DSW and APC facilities are similar. The general process description is provided below. More specific process descriptions as provided by DSW and APC are presented in Appendices A and B at the end of this report.

Potash Recovery Process:

Both facilities have large intake pump installations at the south end of Dead Sea. DSW pumping station has four pumps, each with capacity of 25,000 m3/hour. APC also has four pumps, each with capacity of more than 16,000 m3/hour. In 2011, DSW intake pumps transferred 448 million m3 of brine and APC 279 million m3. The brine is elevated by approximately 30 m to channels, leading to the evaporation ponds (pans). Total area of the DSW evaporation ponds is 145 km2. APC pond area is currently 112 km2 with potential of expansion by additional 31 km2.

The natural solar evaporation is the only economical means to concentrate brine and produce potash from this source. Forced evaporation / crystallization processes are available and used commercially in potash production from ores, but their capital and energy costs would be prohibitive in this case. For illustration, at Dead Sea Works, use of forced evaporation would require 10 million tons of coal per year, equivalent of 30 trucks or 10 rail cars per hour. At APC the consumption would be 21 trucks per hour of heavy fuel oil or coal. Impact of such material movement on local traffic would be substantial. Based on my experience in industry, capital costs of changing process on this scale would also be prohibitive. Aside from prohibitive additional capital and operating costs, the environmental impact of additional fuels combustion would be undesirable.

The first stage evaporation takes place in Salt Ponds. Here water is evaporated to the point where most of sodium chloride (salt) precipitates but the other metal chlorides (Mg, K, and Ca) remain in solution. It is important to follow the phase chemistry, control and monitor the brine concentration to avoid co-precipitation of carnallite and thus unnecessary losses of potassium. The magnesium would also be “lost” in this situation, but since only a fraction of the available magnesium is being recovered at DSW the magnesium losses would not be as important at this time. 25 million tons/year of salt are

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precipitated at DSW. At APC, 18 million tons/year are precipitated. The combined annual deposition exceeds world consumption by about 50%. Handling of the salt at both facilities is described below in paragraph on Sodium Chloride.

Brine from the Salt Ponds is advanced to the Carnallite Ponds. As water evaporates further, a dual salt of magnesium and potassium chlorides crystallizes out of brine along with some sodium chloride. The carnallite chemical composition is KCl.MgCl2.6 H2O. Carnallite slurry is collected by floating harvesters and pumped via floating pipelines to refineries. Carnallite brine contains practically all calcium from Dead Sea brine, and some potassium, magnesium and sodium. This brine also contains the bromine, much concentrated by the evaporation process.

In the refineries, potassium chloride is recovered by two processes. The original “hot leach” process was later supplemented by more energy and cost effective “cold crystallization”. Both processes are in operation now and are described below.

“Hot Leach Process”

The carnallite slurry is dewatered and crystals are “decomposed” with weak brine in agitated tanks. The decomposition process takes advantage of favorable phase chemistry, when more soluble magnesium chloride is dissolved and potassium and sodium chlorides are recrystallized as dual salt sylvinite. The sylvinite slurry is again dewatered and solids are washed to remove residual magnesium chloride. The sylvinite cake is leached with hot mother liquor recycled from the down-stream crystallization process. The leach slurry is advanced to a hot thickener for clarification. The thickener underflow containing salt crystals is dewatered to recover KCl-rich brine, repulped with waste brine and pumped to tailings. The hot brine saturated with potassium and sodium chlorides is advanced from the thickener overflow to multi-stage vacuum crystallizers. Upon cooling, less soluble potassium chloride crystallizes, while sodium chloride remains in solution. Crystallizer slurry is pumped to a liquid / solid separation system. The potassium chloride crystals are dried and screened to separate fine and standard grades.

A highly efficient dust collection system in the dryer and product handling area is installed to minimize potash losses and to protect the environment.

“Cold Crystallization Process”

The advantages of the “cold process” are primarily much lower energy and fresh water requirement. There is no hot leaching and vacuum evaporative crystallization.

The harvested carnallite is first wet-screened to separate coarse high grade carnallite. The screen undersize slurry containing fine crystals and original brine from carnallite

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pond is mixed with mother liquor from cold crystallization. This leads to supersaturation and more carnallite precipitates. The reactor slurry is advanced to carnallite thickener. Thickener overflow is returned to evaporation ponds. The underflow is sent to flotation, where sodium chloride crystals are separated and pumped to tailings. The beneficiated carnallite slurry is sent to flotation thickener. Thickener overflow is recycled to flotation step. Underflow is further dewatered and sent to the cold crystallization step where it is combined with coarse carnallite from wet screens. In the cold crystallizers, combined carnallite is mixed with water. By carefully controlling the amount of water, carnallite is decomposed, potassium chloride crystallizes out and magnesium chloride reports to solution. Crystallizer slurry is screened to remove large sodium chloride and un-reacted carnallite crystals. Screen oversize is pumped to tailings. Screen undersize, containing finer crude potassium chloride crystals, is cold-leached with water to remove residual magnesium chloride. Purified potassium chloride is dried and screened for marketing. As in the hot leach area, dust emissions are controlled by the dust collection system.

Potash Production at DSW and APC:

The annual potash productions at DSW and APC plants are provided in Table-2 below. The KCl recoveries in the two facilities represent an annual KCl production as percentage of potassium chloride in the intake brine. This provides an interesting comparison, as DSW KCl recoveries are in general, close to those at APC.

Table ‐ 2: DSW and APC ‐ Annual Potash Production and KCl Recovery KCl in Intake KCl Production KCl Recovery

Year Facility M tons/year M tons/year % Ratio APC/DSW

2011 Dead Sea Works 7.00 3.50 50%

0.96 Arab Potash 4.35 2.26 52%

2010 Dead Sea Works 6.39 3.50 55%

0.95 Arab Potash 3.47 1.90 55%

2009 Dead Sea Works 6.39 3.50 55%

1.68 Arab Potash 3.90 1.20 31%

2008 Dead Sea Works 6.13 3.50 57%

1.04 Arab Potash 3.87 2.00 52%

2007 Dead Sea Works no data no data no data

no data Arab Potash 4.34 1.80 41%

2006 Dead Sea Works 5.86 3.50 55%

1.08 Arab Potash 3.61 1.70 47%

6‐year Average

Dead Sea Works 6.35 3.50 55% 1.13

Arab Potash 3.92 1.81 46%

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Notes: DSW KCl production figures are annual averages as provided by DSW. Low recovery at APC in 2009 was attributed to flooding in this area.

Some of the other products produced from the Dead Sea brine are listed below:

Magnesium Products:

Magnesium is present in Dead Sea brine at the high concentration and is marketable in several forms. Magnesium metal is a high value product and can be produced from the Dead Sea brines by energy intensive electrolytic process. Magnesium metal plant was built adjacent to DSW potash facilities.

APC considered production of magnesium metal and conducted a prefeasibility study in 2003. High capital cost and availability and cost of electrical energy placed this project on hold.

There are magnesia (magnesium oxide) facilities adjacent to DSW, producing refractory grade as well as high quality fused magnesia.

Magnesia plant was also built on the Jordan side in 2004 (Jordan Magnesia Company), but it was shut down shortly after start-up, not being able to produce at rated capacity. Increased cost of fuel also influenced this decision.

Bromine:

Bromine is produced successfully at both Israel and Jordan facilities using return brine as a feed stock. DSW and APC represent a significant contribution to the world production of bromine.

Sodium Chloride (“salt”):

There are large quantities of sodium chloride crystallized in evaporation pans. For the year 2011, DSW and APC report 25 and 18 million tons of crude salt respectively, deposited in the salt ponds. This exceeds world production by more than 50%. DSW is producing some commercial grades of salt, while APC shut down their salt plant.

Production of salt at both facilities represents a small fraction of salt deposited in the ponds, causing undesirable rise of the levels. APC is now using their floating harvesters to collect and pump salt slurry to stockpiles on north end of the evaporation ponds. DSW was building dikes to contain salt and brine build-up in salt ponds and now is in a planning process to build a massive conveyor to transport harvested salt to a depository in the north.

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Section – 4: Dead Sea Brine Consumption by DSW and APC

As stated in the Introduction to this report, one of the objectives here is to review data from Dead Sea Works and Arab Potash Company, and evaluate, if their reported net consumptions of Dead Sea brine are realistic.

It is difficult to develop an accurate mass balance for brine processing facilities utilizing solar evaporation on the scale operated by DSW and APC. Both operations provided data for the intake as well as return brines, fresh water usage and estimates for evaporation from ponds for the last several years of operation. The production rates are also well documented.

The intake flowrates of brine from the Dead Sea are monitored and recorded by both plants, providing accurate data for feed to the evaporation ponds (and withdrawal from Dead Sea). As stated above, the composition of the Dead Sea brine fed to the facilities is relatively constant. A combination of flow management and analytical control also provide reliable information on ion species (K, Mg, Na, Ca, Cl, and Br) contained in the feed brine. However, monitoring of the flows and compositions of the “return brine” are more difficult due the pond leakage and changes in salt and brine inventories resulting from salt management operations. DSW indicates that the leakage, in their facilities, represents as much as half of the brine returned to the Dead Sea. DSW has plans for sealing or “blocking” the leakage that it is clearly visible at the north end of ponds. This may reduce brine intake from Dead Sea and power requirements for the intake pumps. APC, in their balance shows so called “difference in balance” representing about 25% to 30% of Dead Sea brine intake. It is attributed to leakage and brine transfers in salt harvesting and storage operations. This is close to the estimate provided by DSW.

APC provided a detailed brine data for period from 2006 to 2011. The reported brines included Dead Sea brine, salt pan brine (feed to carnallite ponds), plant effluent brine (recycled to carnallite ponds) and carnallite pond discharge returned to Dead Sea. APC provided annual mass flows, analyses for magnesium, potassium, sodium, calcium, chlorides, water and specific gravities for each brine. Leakage and “brine losses” were noted, but not quantified. APC data is provided below.

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Table – 3: APC ‐ Dead Sea Brine Chemical Analysis (Wt.%)

Year TEMP DENS ACTUAL % % % % % % %

C At (36c) DENS Mg++ Ca++ K+ Na+ Cl‐ H2O (Mg+Ca)

2006 30.8 1.2379 1.2370 3.89 1.53 0.64 2.62 18.65 72.68 5.41

2007 30.5 1.2362 1.2383 3.97 1.47 0.68 2.52 18.69 72.68 5.44

2008 31.1 1.2367 1.2387 4.05 1.44 0.67 2.53 18.86 72.45 5.49

2009 30.4 1.2360 1.2383 4.04 1.44 0.66 2.52 19.08 72.11 5.63

2010 31.0 1.2360 1.2380 4.05 1.50 0.67 2.51 18.96 72.31 5.55

2011 30.0 1.2374 1.2398 4.00 1.47 0.66 2.48 18.69 72.70 5.47

Table – 4: APC ‐ Saturated Brine, Salt Pans Discharge/Carnallite Pans Feed(Wt.%)


C At (36C) DENS Mg++ Ca++ K+ Na+ Cl‐ H2O (Mg+Ca)

2006 31.9 1.3052 1.3069 6.03 2.23 0.94 0.51 23.17 67.13 8.26

2007 31.9 1.3042 1.3059 6.04 2.11 0.96 0.55 23.09 67.25 8.16

2008 32.2 1.3054 1.3069 6.11 2.12 0.94 0.53 23.22 67.08 8.22

2009 32.6 1.3052 1.3066 6.01 2.12 0.87 0.50 22.84 67.66 8.13

2010 37.9 1.3107 1.3100 6.11 2.26 0.76 0.46 23.22 67.19 8.37

2011 31.9 1.3039 1.3055 6.03 2.15 0.97 0.54 23.11 67.20 8.18

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Table – 5: APC ‐ Plants' Effluent (C‐4 Feed) Chemical Analysis (Wt.%)


C At (36C) DENS Mg++ Ca++ K+ Na+ Cl‐ H2O (Mg+Ca)

2006 36.5 1.2914 1.2912 6.04 1.57 1.11 0.61 22.36 68.31 7.62

2007 37.7 1.2896 1.2890 6.02 1.46 1.18 0.64 22.19 68.52 7.48

2008 38.6 1.2973 1.2963 6.23 1.53 1.04 0.57 22.68 67.96 7.75

2009 37.8 1.2949 1.2941 6.16 1.60 0.94 0.56 22.52 68.21 7.76

2010 40.2 1.3022 1.3005 6.36 1.77 0.84 0.51 23.24 67.28 8.13

2011 42.4 1.2984 1.2958 6.23 1.63 0.96 0.56 22.79 67.83 7.86

Table – 6: APC Brine Return to Dead Sea Chemical Analysis (Wt.%)


C At (36c) DENS Mg++ Ca++ K+ Na+ Cl‐ H2O (Mg+Ca)

2006 34.2 1.3350 1.3357 6.84 2.59 0.26 0.25 25.15 64.92 9.42

2007 34.7 1.3290 1.3296 6.70 2.43 0.34 0.30 24.62 65.60 9.13

2008 36.0 1.3401 1.3402 7.01 2.50 0.27 0.25 25.51 64.46 9.51

2009 35.9 1.3472 1.3473 7.06 2.58 0.18 0.20 25.63 64.36 9.64

2010 36.5 1.3547 1.3545 7.10 2.88 0.15 0.18 26.22 63.47 9.98

2011 35.2 1.3482 1.3486 7.11 2.63 0.16 0.20 25.85 64.04 9.74

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Table – 7: APC ‐ Yearly Material Balance

Solar Ponds Section

Year Pumped Dead Sea Brine (Tons)

Plants Return Brine to Carn Pans (Tons)

Evaporation (Tons)

Return Brine to Dead Sea

(Tons)

Deposited Carnallite (Tons)

Deposited NaCl (Tons)

Entrained Brine (Tons)

*Difference (Tons)

2006 295,865,500 28,485,050 98,919,925 114,405,200 9,698,810 17,214,509 5,680,788 78,431,318

2007 334,558,600 29,381,600 108,002,436 140,360,000 10,061,400 18,577,836 6,130,686 80,807,842

2008 302,917,000 34,238,200 102,167,740 82,998,300 11,940,106 17,302,900 5,709,957 117,036,197

2009 309,860,800 14,407,200 149,292,339 112,905,200 8,423,300 16,183,530 5,340,565 32,123,066

2010 271,191,800 36,798,100 138,090,669 90,593,000 7,543,560 15,061,920 4,970,434 51,730,317

2011 345,859,830 38,465,900 114,309,545 129,056,000 11,616,564 18,078,190 5,965,803 105,299,628

Total 1,860,253,530 181,776,050 710,782,654 670,317,700 59,283,740 102,418,885 33,798,232 465,428,369

Average 310,042,255 30,296,008 118,463,776 111,719,617 9,880,623 17,069,814 5,633,039 77,571,395

* Difference might be attributed to rising brine level of Salt Pans and salt dredging activities in addition to leakage.

Material balance provided by APC in Table-7 above shows a significant mass

imbalance.

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DSW provided summary brine data shown below in Table-8:

Table – 8: DSW Brine Data for Years 2000 – 2011.

Net

Pumping

(Mm3)

Returned End Brine and

Seepage

Gross Pumping (Dead Sea

Brine)

Year

CaCl2

(g/Kg)

MgCl2

(g/Kg)

NaCl

(g/Kg)

KCl

(g/Kg)

(Mm3)CaCl2

(g/Kg)

MgCl2

(g/Kg)

NaCl

(g/Kg)

KCl

(g/Kg)

(Mm3)

162 75 276 6.24.6286 43.3 157 65 12.6 448 2011

16876 279 5.94.424144 156 67 12.6 409 2010

15675 277 6.34.725044 155 68 12.7 406 2009

15571 277 6.65.123443 155 68 12.7 389 2008

14472 272 7.26.320943 154 65 12.7 3 53 2007

143 6.5235 12.5 378 2006

154 6.6231 12.5 385 2005

105 243 348 2004

159 204 363 2003

160 211 371 2002

147 211 358 2001

147 209 356 2000

DSW mass balance for year 2011 is based on the above analyses and

assumption that all return brine has composition indicated by DSW. This results

in compound imbalance: -25% KCl, -24% NaCl, +21% MgCl2, +20% CaCl2.

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Calcium is the only major element not affected by the process at either facility. Due to

low sulfate content of Dead Sea brine, calcium precipitated as gypsum represents less

than 1% of total calcium. Thus the amount of calcium coming from Dead Sea should

basically equal that in the return brine. Using calcium as an indicator element, I did a

quick check of balances.

Table-9 below shows in comparison balances at DSW (that includes leakage)

and at APC without the allowance for leakage.

TABLE ‐ 9 DSW‐APC Balance Impact of Leakage 2011 Values as reported by DSW and APC (leakage from APC not included)

Brine Intake from Dead Sea DSW APC Combined

Volume Mm3/year 448 279 727 Calcium as Ca M tons/year 8.7 5.1 13.8 Water Evaporation from Pans

Volume Mm3/year 173 114 287 Fresh/Brackish Water Usage

Volume Mm3/year 15.0 12.4 27.4 Annual Production Potash M tons/year 3.50 2.26 5.76 Brine Return to Dead Sea

Volume Mm3/year 286 96 382 Volume as % of Intake % 64% 34% 53% Calcium as Ca M tons/year 10.3 3.4 11.3 Ca as % of Intake % 120% 67% Net Outflow from Dead Sea

Volume Mm3/year 162 183 345 Volume as % of Intake % 36% 66% 47%

Volume Balance Mm3/year 4.0 81.4 85.4 % 1% 28% 11%

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There is obvious imbalance of the “indicator” element calcium in both plants.

There is also an imbalance in the volume flows at APC. Both are highlighted in

red font.

Modified Material Balance for DSW and APC – Year 2011:

To check the mass and volume data provided by DSW and APC, I prepared mass balances for total flows as well as Mg, K, Na and Ca chlorides. In an effort to balance the systems, I focused on possible compositions of the leakage. I entered various ratios of brines (Dead Sea, halite, process return) into several spread sheets and evaluated resulting chemical balances. The best balance was obtained for case where leakage was a mix of Dead Sea brine and halite (salt) brine.

The resulting mass, volume chemical mass balances at the lower portion of the Table-10 below are now within reasonable accuracy expected for this kind of system. In case of DSW, inclusion of the amount of magnesium and its compounds produced in adjacent facilities would improve the magnesium balance. These production rates were not reported by APC.

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Table ‐ 10: Year 2011 DSW & APC: Mass / Volume / Component Balance DSW APC Combined Potash Production tons/year 3,500,000 2,258,600 5,758,600

Dead Sea Intake ‐ Mass Flow tons/year 555,520,000 345,859,830 901,379,830

‐ Volume Flow m3/year 448,000,000 278,964,212 726,964,212

‐ MgCl2 tons/year 87,216,640 54,255,871 141,472,511

‐ CaCl2 tons/year 24,054,016 14,108,487 38,162,503

‐ KCl tons/year 6,999,552 4,355,180 11,354,732

‐ NaCl tons/year 36,108,800 21,816,237 57,925,037

Fresh / Brackish Water ‐ Mass Flow tons/year 15,000,000 12,422,300 27,422,300

Return Brine Including brine leakage

Mass Flow tons/year 368,940,000 223,635,795 592,575,795

Specific Gravity 1.29 1.33 1.30

Volume Flow m3/year 286,000,000 170,013,486 456,013,486

Weight % of Dead Sea Intake % 66% 65% 66%

Volume % of Dead Sea Intake % 64% 61% 63%

MgCl2 tons/year 80,726,360 54,587,912 135,314,272

CaCl2 tons/year 22,049,456 14,169,336 36,218,792

KCl tons/year 3,115,684 1,864,647 4,980,331

NaCl tons/year 12,713,844 4,288,983 17,002,827

Evaporation from Pans – Mass Flow tons/year 198,080,000 114,309,545 312,389,545

Salt (NaCl) Precipitation tons/year 25,000,000 18,078,190 43,078,190

Carnallite Precipitation tons/year 18,000,000 11,615,564 29,615,564

Balance:

Net Intake tons/year 186,580,000 122,224,035 308,804,035

Net Intake m3/year 162,000,000 108,950,726 270,950,726

Net Intake: % of Dead Sea Intake % 34% 35% 34%

Net Intake: % of Dead Sea Intake % 36% 39% 37%

MgCl2 (intake‐return) tons/year 6,490,280 ‐332,041 6,158,239

MgCl2 Balance [% of intake] % 7.4% ‐0.6% 4.4%

CaCl2 (intake‐return) tons/year 2,004,560 ‐60,849 1,943,711

CaCl2 Balance [% of intake] % 8.3% ‐0.4% 5.1%

KCl (intake‐return) tons/year 383,868 231,933 615,801

KCl Balance [% of intake] % 5.5% 5.3% 5.4%

NaCl (intake‐return) tons/year ‐1,605,044 ‐550,937 ‐2,155,981

NaCl Balance [% of intake] % ‐4.4% ‐2.5% ‐3.7%

Volume Balance(incl. fresh water) m3/year ‐21,080,000 7,063,481 ‐14,016,519

Volume Balance [% of combined intake] % ‐4.6% 2.4% ‐1.9%

20 | P a g e

In the conclusion, chemical balance supports brine intake and return volume

flowrates reported by DSW and APC, and the 262 million m3 per year of

combined Net Outflow from Dead Sea. There may be an argument that not all

return brine actually returns to Dead Sea. There are two arguments against this.

Any significant increase in return brine inventory would be noticed by change of

chemistry and increased levels in ponds. Also, as evaporation ponds are

elevated more that 30 meters above Dead Sea levels, any seepage into ground

is likely to end up in the Dead Sea.

Using APC analyses in Tables 3, 4 & 6 above, I was also able to confirm within

about 5 to 7%, the 114 M tpy evaporation rate reported by APC for year 2011.

Section – 5: Analysis of Potential to Reduce Dead Sea Brine Consumption

Water evaporated in DSW and APC ponds represents about 40% of volume

withdrawn from Dead Sea. There were some discussions in various publications

suggesting that solar evaporation is outdated technology and more effective

processes are available, that could reduce Dead Sea brine usage. As discussed

in the Potash Recovery Process description on Page 8, solar evaporation is

preferred and economical method of potash recovery from Dead Sea brine.

Operating capacity of the Dead Sea potash plants depends primarily on available

area of their evaporation ponds. The other important factor is concentration of

potassium in the Dead Sea brine. The composition of the Dead Sea brine very

much determines the phase chemistry of the potash recovery process. Due to

high magnesium and sodium content of the Dead Sea brine, there are two basic

process steps necessary to prepare feed stock to the potash plants. These are

salt (NaCl) crystallization, followed by carnallite crystallization. Salt ponds, when

operated properly, separate only sodium chloride minimizing losses of

potassium. This process step is necessary to remove sodium and provide

optimal feed stock for carnallite crystallization and potash recovery. A substantial

portion of the total water is evaporated in this step. Remaining water is

evaporated in carnallite crystallization process. Both of these evaporation steps

21 | P a g e

are required to prepare a concentrated feed stock for the potash recovery

process. Using 2011 data from both operations as an example, 287 M m3 of

water was evaporated in that year. Adding 27 M m3 of fresh water required in the

process to the equation, matches approximately the net combined withdrawal of

262 M m3 reported by DSW and APC. This means, in order to reduce intake of

Dead Sea brine, in the current scenario, production at potash facilities would

have to be reduced. As production cuts are not considered here, we must look at

other means of reducing Dead Sea brine intake.

As shown in Table-2 on page 10, the current “recovery rates” for potassium

chloride are approximately 50%. As discussed during our meeting at APC, there

is already an internal recycle of brine utilized to improve KCl recovery, so there is

already intent to do that. To determine if further improvements are possible, an

in-depth review of the process and phase diagrams would be required. This

would require full cooperation of both companies and review of operating data.

Also, one has to keep in mind that multi component phase chemistry of

crystallization doesn’t allow for “100% recovery” of compounds. Moreover, there

is always a trade-off between recovery and product quality. Recovery is often

subject to economic evaluation, while there is no compromise on product quality.

It is likely that both companies, over the years of operation, investigated such

possibilities. Reducing intake rate would reduce electrical energy cost of Dead

Sea brine pumping and that is always motivating factor.

To close this subject, let’s look again at an “alternate processes”. A technology

for a single step, selective recovery of potassium chloride from this brine is not

available. Membrane technology is used in industry to separate, or remove

various salts from industrial waters. In the case of Dead Sea brine, it would not

help, as membranes would not be selective and would tend to remove all salts.

Also, energy costs would be very high. So as the last alternative, we would have

to consider forced evaporation. Forced evaporative crystallization of sodium

chloride would be prohibitively expensive (capital and operating costs) and

substantial amount of water would still be “lost”. One could consider leaving salt

22 | P a g e

evaporation ponds in place and look at forced evaporation for carnallite. That

would reduce the overall costs associated with forced evaporation, but with this

feed stock and for this product (KCl), the energy costs alone would still be

prohibitive. In an order “to save water” utilizing this process, large condensers

would be required to recover water vapor for return to Dead Sea and their energy

cost in this environment would be prohibitive.

One last thought on the subject of reducing Dead Sea brine consumption by

utilizing alternate technology. Both DSW and APC went through significant

upgrading of their facilities. A major process change or conversion to a

completely new process, even if it was technically feasible, would be capital-

intensive and as such, would likely be rejected by both operators.

Section – 6: Observations and Recommendations

Dead Sea Operations:

Both Dead Sea Works and Arab Potash Company are well established

operations that progressed, over the years, through several expansions and

upgrades. Both utilize conventional solar evaporation to prepare feed for the

potash recovery process. DSW potash plant is operating at or near its annual

design capacity of 3.5 million tons. DSW plans for future 10% expansion are

currently on hold. The Red Sea- Dead Sea Study should consider this expansion

and proportional increase in net brine withdrawal from Dead Sea by this

operation. APC also stated that there is a 5 to 7 year plan for potential expansion

of their evaporation ponds. No indication of the impact on Dead Sea brine

requirements was specified. Their design capacity is now 2.5 million tons per

year of potash, operating at 2.26 million tons in 2011, thus potential for 10%

increase in brine withdrawal.

Recommendation:

1. Keep DSW and APC informed of progress in the Red Sea-Dead Sea studies

to secure their cooperation in any future evaluations and studies.

23 | P a g e

Dead Sea Brine Consumption:

As discussed in the previous section, there is no clear path, at this time, for

reduction of brine intake from Dead Sea. Any such prospect would require a

separate study and cooperation with DSW and APC. Any significant reduction in

Dead Sea brine usage is unlikely under current scenario. A closer review of the

operating data at both, or even one facility, may offer a path to improved KCl

recovery and possibility to reduce Dead Sea brine consumption.

Recommendations:

1. In the future considerations under the Red Sea-Dead Sea Conveyance

Study Program allow for 10% increase in outflow from Dead Sea due to

potential higher production rates at both operations.

2. Consider a separate, more in-depth study, to determine realistic potential

for reduction of Dead Sea brine usage.

Impact of the Red Sea water on Existing Chemical Industries:

The Red Sea water has proportionally much higher sodium and sulfate content

and less potassium and magnesium than Dead Sea. Introduction of the Red Sea

water may have some visual effects on Dead Sea due to gypsum precipitation,

as discussed by others. As far as impact of higher sulfate content of Red Sea

water on potash operations, I believe it would be limited. If it doesn’t drop out in

Dead Sea, it is likely to co-precipitate in the salt ponds.

The following table shows ratio of the main cations in Dead Sea brine in

comparison with typical sea water:

K Na Mg Ca

Dead Sea Brine 7.5% 29.2% 45.5% 17.8%

Sea Water 3.1% 83.6% 10.2% 3.1%

24 | P a g e

The different chemistry of the Red Sea water didn’t seem to be of much concern

for DSW or APC.

The concerns with introduction of Red Sea water are primarily related to potential

for dilution of the plant feed brine. The potassium chloride concentration in Dead

Sea brine is about 1.26%, but in sea water it is only 0.076%. The sea water is

thus more than 16 times “more dilute” with respect to KCl content. Their

production capacity is limited by area of evaporation ponds and more dilute feed

stock would have an impact on their production capacity.

The Dead Sea Study prepared for World Bank by Tahal Group addresses in

great detail potential impacts of introduction of Red Sea water to Dead Sea.

Some of their findings regarding mixing and stratification are of concern, since

the simulations are not quite conclusive. Stratification is of concern to both Dead

Sea chemical operations as the Red Sea water could form a layer that may

coincide with suction point of plant intake pumps. An idea was raised during

discussions at stakeholders meetings in February 2013. The concept was based

on saturation of the Red Sea water with salt from chemical plant stockpiles, thus

producing a “dense brine” that would sink to the bottom of Dead Sea. The level

would be stabilized and the brine would not reach chemical plants. I studied this

concept and came to conclusion that it would not work for the following reasons.

First, fully saturated sodium chloride solution has density around 1.20, less than

density of Dead Sea (1.24), thus this brine would not sink to the bottom and more

likely disperse in the Dead Sea increasing undesirable sodium content. Second,

at the projected inflows of Red Sea water, there simply is not enough of salt

produced to reach saturation. The third issue is the costs associated with

transportation of salt to the saturation ponds. In a conclusion, the addition of salt

from the stockpiles to densify Red Sea water is not a workable solution.

The other concern, also related to dilution, is point of introduction of the Red Sea

water. Under the current plan, the Red Sea water would be delivered by pipeline

routed on the Wadi Arava and a “dike” separating APC and DSW evaporation

ponds. Following this route, water would be introduced close to the Dead Sea

25 | P a g e

intake pumps for both operations, thus concern over potential for dilution. During

our discussions at APC it was suggested that the inflow point located in the Mujib

area would be much safer. This, however, would require different routing of the

pipeline, following east shores of evaporation ponds on the Jordanian side.

Routing of the Red Sea pipeline on Wadi Arava raises other concerns, discussed

during the World Bank team visits to DSW and APC. The suggested routing is

not considered a viable concept as the wadi is a flood zone, unstable and with

unknown locations of buried mines. Presence of the conveyance pipeline could

change the flow patterns during annual floods resulting in erosion of dykes,

requiring extensive repairs and potential disruption of operations.

Recommendations:

1. Investigate cost (and other impacts) of alternate routing of Red Sea

pipeline and location of the discharge point.

2. Follow up on any studies that would provide more conclusive results as to

distribution and stratification of the inflow from Red Sea pipeline. Reduce

the unknowns.



Appendix A

Dead Sea Works

Technology and Meeting Notes

World Bank Meeting 2012

1

Mining methods

Mining by Evaporation concentration

g

Mining by Evaporation, concentration & Precipitation of salts In solar

ponds –( Dead- Sea)

H2O

ponds ( Dead Sea)

MgCl2KCl·6H2O + NaCl

2

DSWIndustrial Pans

PumpingStations

Industrial Pans

Dead Sea Works Ltd has a

Ein BokekHotels

Jordan

Dead Sea Works Ltd. has a concession to mine minerals from the Dead Sea.

Salt Precipitation 25 Mt/y ZoharHamei hotels

Pan 5 Jordan

Neve Zohar

Salt Precipitation 25 Mt/yCarnallite Precipitation 18 Mt/yPotash Production 3.5 M tons/y

DSWCarnallite

FactoryHotels & BeachesSmall village

3

Pan 150 (salt)Carnallite

Other salt pans

potash production processpotash production process--DSWDSW12 7 Gr/Kg Kcl

Dead SeaDEAD SEA BRINES

12.7 Gr/Kg Kcl70.0 Gr/Kg Nacl180 Gr/Kg Mgcl2

E ti P dSalt (NaCl)

Saltrecycling

DEAD SEA BRINES

Evaporation Ponds(Salt Precipitation)

BROMINE Evaporation Ponds (Carnallite Precipitation)

(NaCl)

Carnallite

BROMINEPLANT End brine

Potash Plants

MagnesiumPlant

Carnallite

Sylvinite

Fine Standard Granular Technical GRPotash Potash Potash Potash

1. Dead Sea -421 metersunder sea level

33. Evaporation. Evaporation panspans(C llit(C llit i it ti )i it ti )

1

22. Evaporation at salt pans through sun. Evaporation at salt pans through sunenergy (salt precipitation)energy (salt precipitation)

Potash productionPotash production 4 C llit h t b d

(Carnallite(Carnallite precipitation)precipitation)1

2

3Potash production

process at Dead Sea Works

Potash production process at Dead Sea

Works

4. Carnallite harvest by draggers

4

5

655. Carnallite . Carnallite --

raw materialraw material

67

66. Potash factory. Potash factory

5

7. End product: potash = fertilizer for agriculture

The contribution of DSW to the Israeli economics

Sustaining the southern basinSustaining the southern basinSustaining the southern basinSustaining the southern basinEnabling Enabling the existence of hotels in the Dead Sea. the existence of hotels in the Dead Sea. Provides livelihood to approx. Provides livelihood to approx. 30 30 thousand thousand families.families.

Enabling Enabling the existence of hotels in the Dead Sea. the existence of hotels in the Dead Sea. Provides livelihood to approx. Provides livelihood to approx. 30 30 thousand thousand families.families.Main employer in the south area of the country. Main employer in the south area of the country. Added value of about Added value of about 11% of the Israeli GNP.% of the Israeli GNP.

$$

Main employer in the south area of the country. Main employer in the south area of the country. Added value of about Added value of about 11% of the Israeli GNP.% of the Israeli GNP.

$$Export of about Export of about 22..3 3 billion $.billion $.Contribute to the absence of Sinkholes in the Contribute to the absence of Sinkholes in the south basin.south basin.

Export of about Export of about 22..3 3 billion $.billion $.Contribute to the absence of Sinkholes in the Contribute to the absence of Sinkholes in the south basin.south basin.

6

Agenda:

•Annual net pumping•Red to Dead Impact: UnknownsRed to Dead Impact: Unknowns•Arava Wadi•Proposed water extraction feeProposed water extraction fee•Pre publish view of the report

7

Annual net pumping

Net Pumping

(Mm3)

Returned End Brine

and Seepage (Mm3)

Gross Pumping

(Mm3)

Year

1682414092010

1562504062009

1552343892008

1442093532007

1432353782006

1542313852005

1052433482004

1592043632003

1602113712002

1472113582001

1472093562000

8

•Ara a Wadi•Arava Wadi

9

Red to Dead Impact: Unknowns

~12.5

~10.9

~9.7

10

*From GSI report, figures in blue are in g/Kg and are rough estimates calculated from the data


גוף מים עליון מעורבב ' מ 40באופן מלא עד לעומק

ל '75ל 'מ75עומק השכבה הדלילה מגיעה עד כדי

11


11.9~לשנה ק"מלמ 400

12


•Simulations do not tell us the extent of the mixing (concentrations, depth)•400 MCM: will there be stratification?•How do these depend on inflow point/form of inflow (reject/RS/desalinated water)

Reduce the unknowns

13



Appendix B

Arab Potash Company

Technology and History of Operations

POTASH TECHNOLOGY Arab Potash extends cold crystallisation New capacity at the Ghor El-Safi operation embraces the latest cold crystallisation technology.

In October 2010, Arab Potash Company (APC) extended the capacity at its processing plant at Ghor El-Safi. Jordan, bringing on stream a new 500,000 t/a potassium chloride train that uses cold crystallisation technology. The project has raised APC’s total capacity at the site to 2.4 million t/a. The project constitutes the first phase of a two-phase expansion of the Safi facility. The expansion cost an estimated $500 million and involved the optimization of the plant’s operations with modifications to the solar ponds systems and the construction of a new cold crystallization plant and warehouse. The second phase of plants de bottlenecking and Ponds optimization will eventually raise capacity above 3 million t/a.

APC was set up in 1956 by the government of Jordan to extract minerals from the Dead Sea. Production of potash from the Dead Sea brine began in 1983 when the Ghor El-Safi refinery and processing plant came on stream. Capacity at the plant was initially 1.2 million t/a. The facility underwent upgrades and expansions and in 1994, a second plant was developed, bringing capacity up to 1.8 million t/a. Further expansions and optimization boosted capacity to 2 million t/a.

At the heart of the Ghor El-Safi site are a 112 km2 solar evaporation ponds system and ore processing plants. The brine from the Dead Sea is pumped at a yearly average rate of 350 million t/a into the solar evaporation system by main intake pumping station, where the initial concentration process is undertaken at the salt ponds where NaCl deposits. The remaining brine is pumped into the Carnallite ponds, to precipitate the raw Carnallite.

The precipitated raw Carnallite is the raw material for producing potash is precipitated as mixture of Carnallite (KCl.MgCl2.6H2O) and NaCl. This bed is harvested as a slurry from beneath the brine and delivered to booster pumps on the dikes and then to the refinery through floating pipes.

The Raw Carnallite is harvested and pumped to the existing and new refineries. The original plant employs hot leach technology to process the Carnallite to extract potash, but the newer facilities employ cold crystallisation. In the hot leaching unit, the Carnallite slurry is received, dewatered and decomposed in two stages in an agitator tanks. The resulting solids from the decomposition are a mixture of potassium chloride and sodium chloride: this mixture (known as sylvinite) is dewatered and washed. The resulting cake is conveyed to the sylvinite processing stage.

In the next sylvinite processing stage, the sylvinite cake is leached using agitator tanks in a two-stage process. Heated lean brine, returned from the crystallisation process, is used for leaching the KCl solids. The hot brine, now saturated with KCl, is clarified in a hot thickener. The thickener’s overflow is pumped to the crystallisation process, and the underflow slurry containing NaCl crystals is dewatered, repulped with waste brine and then pumped to the tailings area.

The hot brine from the thickener overflow, which is saturated with sodium and potassium chlorides, is cooled successively in a six-stage vacuum crystallising system from 93°C to 42°C. Upon cooling, KCl decreases in solubility and crystallises under controlled conditions. The potash slurry from the last-stage crystalliser is directed to the product hydrocyclones, where partial dewatering takes place. The underflow of the cyclones is sent to centrifuges for further dewatering. In the drying stage, the cake from the centrifuges is conveyed to an oil-fired rotary dryer to remove the last traces of moisture entrained with the crystals. From the dryer, the product is sent to a fluidised bed cooler and then to the screening system, while the dust is collected, using a cluster of high-efficiency cyclones. The product coming from the dryer goes to the screening unit, where it is segregated into two product grades: standard and fine. Standard potash is cooled by using a fluidised bed cooler, but an alternative is under implementation to use a column cooler for this purpose. An anti-caking agent is added in carefully controlled amounts to minimize the natural tendency of potash to agglomerate during storage and

shipment. Free-flowing properties are thus ensured to facilitate handling of these products by the customer. To ensure a clean environment and to minimize potash losses as dust, APC has installed several de-dusting systems, such as bag filtration units and high-efficiency cyclones.

Hot leach revamp

APC has meanwhile continued to undertake improvements at the hot leach plant, recently completing two debottlenecking projects. These improvements focused on the plate heat exchanger and the screening unit. After several years of operation, APC noted that the plate heat exchangers used to heat up the circuit were becoming less reliable, often failing during the start-up and pump switching phases. Wear and tear on the rubber components furthermore made them fragile, exacerbated by the high operating temperatures, which led to increased operating costs in the wake of losses of steam and frequent maintenance and downtime. After looking at various options, APC decided to replace the previous plate heat exchangers with a falling film heat exchanger. This has reduced the operating and maintenance costs by saving around 10 t/h of steam and provide a working area with enhanced safety. The new falling film heat exchanger has increased the efficiency by ensuring that the brine fed to the crystallizers is always saturated, thus increasing the KCl content and optimum operation, via the proper control of brine temperature. APC ordered the new falling film heat exchanger (FFHX) from the Canadian company, Whiting, in December 2007. With a design capacity of 2.0 million t/a of product, the new FFHX comprises tubes made from titanium and a shell made from 516-70 carbon steel.

A further revamp in the hot leach unit involved the product handling facility. This area operates with various solids handling equipment, including bucket elevators, screw conveyors, screens, product cooling equipment and bins. At the product screening area, product exiting the dryer is classified into different grades, namely standard and fine, while part of the standard, fines and dust material is directed to the compaction until, where it is compacted to produce a granular product. The original screening facility was installed in 1982 and had a design capacity of 1.2 million t/a, which was raised to 1.4 million t/a in 1987. Intensive use led to wear and tear of the facility, prompting APC to revamp the screening unit of six primary and six secondary screens with fewer, more efficient new two multi_deck screeners with 270 t/h capacities. The main goals of this project were to:

Reduce the running costs of the screening and compaction units with fewer items of equipment, such as screens and screw conveyors.

Reduce the downtime that resulted from using old and deteriorated equipment.

Improve the product quality by increasing the efficiency of the screens.

Reduce dust emissions. The replacement screening facility was installed in 2009, with the six primary and six secondary screens replaced by two Rotex multi-deck units each with a capacity of 135 t/h, while the main feed bins were replaced by two chutes.

Another major project in the Hot Leach Plant is the Debottlenecking Desk Study. APC started working on a debottlenecking study with Jacobs Engineering to identify the bottlenecks in the Solar Ponds System and in the HLP, and to enable enhancing the production capacity of the HLP from the current 1.4 million t/a up to 1.6 million t/a. The scope of this stage includes identifying operational, mechanical and process bottlenecks, proposing practical solutions to remove the bottlenecks, and recommending the best alternative to remove these obstacles. To achieve these objectives, all necessary mass balance, heat balance and process flow sheet of the recommended alternative will be prepared. The study also includes an order-of-magnitude cost estimation of each recommended option. The proposed modifications are expected to improve the performance of the overall plant, resulting in an increase of plant efficiency to 80% and this will enhance production with additional 280000 TPY in the HLP. The desk study will be finalized in

the first quarter of 2012, and the next step will be to will be the implementation of the projects (in terms of plant productivity) Cold crystallisation

The second processing plant of 1994 introduced the cold crystallisation process. This plant (CCP-1) operates separately from the hot leach refinery and is operated at ambient conditions, with a lower energy requirement. In the process, the carnallite salt is firstly beneficiated by wet screening to separate high-grade carnallite, which is about one quarter of the solids. Wet screen undersize slurry is mixed with brine discharge from the cold crystallisers overflow, which is at or near saturation, in a draft tube reactor. When solar pond brine mixes with crystalliser brine in the reactor, precipitation of the carnallite occurs as the brine mixture equilibrates. Slurry from the reactor is densified in the carnallite thickener, the overflow of which is returned to the evaporation ponds. In the flotation stage, carnallite thickener underflow is beneficiated by a flotation technique, in which NaCl is floated and pumped to the tailings area. Sink slurry is settled in a flotation thickener, the overflow of which is used as make-up brine to the flotation cells and the excess is pumped to the carnallite thickener. Flotation thickener slurry is dewatered in centrifuges. Centrifuge cake (fine carnallite) is conveyed to the cold crystallisers and the effluent is recycled to the flotation thickener. In the crystallisation stage, coarse carnallite and fine carnallite are decomposed in a two-stage crystalliser system in the presence of water. Potassium chloride crystals are formed in the crystallisers. The crystalliser discharge slurry is wet-screened to remove large particles of carnallite and/or sodium chloride. Screen oversize is

pumped to the tailings area, along with flotation overflow slurry. Screen undersize is directed to the leaching area. In the cold leaching stage, in order to remove adhering high MgCl2 brine from the crystalliser product, two-stage leaching and dewatering centrifuges are used to ensure the required 0.7% maximum MgCl2 content in dry product. This is followed by the drying stage, in which the second-stage centrifuge cake is dried to 0.1% moisture content in a rotary drier fired with fuel oil. The product is then cooled in a rotary cooler by a counter-current stream of atmospheric air, screened on a scalping screen to remove any possible lumps or large particles, and conveyed to the potash storehouse. A second cold crystallisation plant

When APC decided to add a second cold crystallisation facility, it commissioned a joint venture between Hatch and Dar Al-Handasah Consultant to undertake the pre-feasibility study and detailed design work. The partners also supervised the project. Petroleum Projects and Technical Consultations of Egypt was the construction contractor. This second plant (CCP-II) is similar to the original facility but has been enhanced with modified processes and advanced technology. The modifications tackle the areas of crystallisation, flotation, screening, leaching and other areas. An advanced control system (DCS) has been incorporated to facilitate the control of various processes. Highly efficient dust collection systems have been incorporated in the CCP-II plant, minimising dust emissions into the surrounding environment. A new compaction plant has also been installed to produce more than 250,000 t/a of high-quality potash. The new compaction plant comprises a post-treatment unit that enhances the quality of granular potash. The additional production from the new CCP-II facility has provided a boost to APC sales. During the first nine months of 2011, the company reported a 24% increase in production to 1.67 million tonnes, compared with 1.35 million tonnes in the same period in 2010. Sales volumes were also up in this nine-month period, with 1.69 million tonnes compared with 1.51 million tonnes a year before – an increase of 12.5%. Sales revenues registered an increase of 36% from the same nine-month period in 2010, at JD 522.8 million compared with JD 383.2 million. APC’s

consolidated net income after tax was JD 217.1 million, an increase of almost 85% year-on-year, while pre-tax profits rose by 81% to JD 247 million. These latest results suggest that the new CCP-II facility has more than fulfilled the goals that APC set for it. When the plant was officially inaugurated by HM King Abdallah II on 20 October 2010, APC expected that sales from the plant would reach JD 120 million in 2011: the year-on-year growth in sales proved even higher, at JD 139 million. The CCP-II cold crystallisation plant is one of several projects that APC has recently completed. The others include:

New Dead Sea intake pumping station: four pumps were installed and were commissioned in early 2011. The new station pumped a total flow to the solar system of around 347 million MMTPY by the end of 2011.

The rehabilitation of the jetty at Aqaba: APC has signed a memorandum of agreement with Jordan Phosphate Mines Co. (JPMC) and two other partners to rehabilitate and expand the current industrial jetty. These projects are in integral part of APC’s strategic plan, whose focus is to optimize potash production in balance with global demand, production debottlenecking and improved logistics, especially in getting the final potash product for shipment via the port of Aqaba.

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