ABSTRACT
Current economic and ecological analyses of the various processes available for recovery of minerals from seawater favor ion exchange and sorption technology. The steam power stations in some countries which border the sea use seawater for cooling the turbine stream. Traditional methods for producing magnesium by processing hydromineral sources fail to satisfy the newer ecological standards. Potassium is the fourth most abundant macroelement in the sea. It is produced on a small scale from seawater by evaporation and crystallization methods. The ion-exchange capacity of clinoptilolite in extracting potassium from seawater reaches a value of 30 mg/g, which far exceeds the capacity values quoted for the much more costly zirconium phosphate. The air-stripping production of bromine from seawater is effective only under relatively high seawater temperatures and sufficient bromine concentration.
