| Show potash from old lake beds searles lake which is really not a lake but a salt incrusted crusted in valley floor is situated in southeastern california its area is approximately twelve square miles and the depth of the salt is 60 to feet probably averaging about seventy five feet in the main part of the deposit the deposit is in effect a consolidated mass crystallized from an evaporating mother liquor brine in which the salts are still immersed below the surface the crystalline structure seems to be so porous that the free movement of the brine is only slightly impeded the first estimate of the contents of this deposit was tons of xa but this is now considered much too low and probably three times this amount is conservative an ail analysis of the brine gave approximately 75 per cent KO as anhydrous residue at searles lake plants have been erected by the american trona corporation and the pacific coast borax co solvay process co of these the former which is the largest individual producer of potash in this country has a concentrating plant at trona capable of treating gallons of brine a day this brine will be evaporated and the concentrated product will be shipped to a refinery at san pedro cal where high grade potassium chloride will probably be produced the estimated output for 1918 is about 15 tons of KO which will probably be doubled in 1919 and eventually the plant will have a capacity of to tons of KO per year at present the crude salts marketed contain some borax to which because of its toxic effects on plant life the fertilizer manufacturers object it if the borax can be removed as it undoubtedly will be in the refined product representatives of the largest fertilizer companies state that the material would be satisfactory for use in fertilizer the cost of production cannot yet be definitely stated but will depend largely on the quantity of the output soda salt and borax will probably be produced as well but if the plant is operated so as to produce its maximum output of potash the market could probably not absorb all the soda and the salt produced freight rates from los angeles to eastern points via the panama canal are not at present quoted and all rail rates on high grade salts would probably be not less than 40 cents per unit of K ka 0 O hence the future of this deposit as a permanent source of potash depends largely on a market for the by prod acts and the obtaining of low ocean freight rates E extract from article entitled the potash situation by A W stockett in war materials rials series published by the department of the interior no details of the plant or the probable output of the pacific coast Borax Solvay process co are available at present but as the solvay company is a well established chemical manufacturing concern it will probably add materially to the supply of potash from searles lake salduro salt marsh utah A saline deposit in the salduro salt marsh utah resembles that at searles lake cal and covers an area of about square miles the salt mass has a thickness of only three to five feet and overlies over lies a saline mud of unknown depth the brines in this mud which appear to flow freely and are undoubtedly present in large amount are supposed to hold most of the potash in the deposit the percentage of xa is less than in searles lake being about 45 per cent A plant has been erected by the solvay process company but no details are available at present nebraska lakes it the nebraska lakes comprise a number of small shallow lakes in the sand hill region of nebraska north and south of the chicago burlington quincy R R between alliance and lakeside about seven ty five of these lakes are known to contain paying quantities of potash they are mostly small although a few lakes have areas of acres or more these shallow lakes contain brine of varying strength and have a bottom of muck and hardpan underlain with a bed of sand two to forty feet thick thi the sand is impregnated w 1 ith brine the composition of which is similar to that of the lake water at first the production was from the lake waters but now the principal source is the subsurface sands the method of obtaining the potash is as follows wells are sunk in the I 1 lake ake beds where there are strong brines and are connected to a suction line the brines are then pumped to reduction plants to be treated in most plants the brines are evaporated partly by the use of solar towers the larger plants use multiple evaporators evaporators in double and triple effects the evaporators and vacuum pans are in series and the product goes directly to coils the salts from the pans or crystallizing vats are dried in rotating furnaces heated by the direct action of oil flame the product of the driers is ground and sacked for shipment at present four plants are producing potash salts the total capacity of these plants is about tons of potash salts per year probably equal to about tons of xa four more companies have been organized two of which should be producing shortly the capacity of these four plants will probably be 1 about tons of ka per annum |
