Solution mining of carbonate/bicarbonate deposits to produce soda ash

摘要

A solution mining process for recovering sodium values from an underground deposit of a sodium bicarbonate containing ore is disclosed. The process involves contacting the ore with an aqueous sodium carbonate- containing solution to produce a dilute brine which is stripped with steam to reduce the bicarbonate content and increase the carbonate content. The dilute carbonate/bicarbonate solution from the stripper is fed to a sodium carbonate decahydrate crystallizer to produce pure sodium carbonate decahydrate crystals and a mother liquor containing less than about 4% sodium bicarbonate.