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Getting Potash from Brines. ANON. (United States Geological Survey Press Bulletin, No. 233, March, I916.)--The urgent need of a domestic supply of potash salts has greatly increased since the importations from Germany were stopped. During this time the price of high-grade potash has advanced from $39 to about $50o a ton. 2vIeanwhile efforts to find commercially workable deposits of potash in this country have been eagerly and diligently made, both by private capitalists and public agencies. The United States Geological Survey, appreciating the needs of the manufacturers and farmers of this country, has endeavored both to find deposits of soluble potash salts and to discover practicable methods of extracting potash from rocks that carry relatively large proportions of potassium. Every clue that might yield valuable results has been followed up in a country-wide investigation, extending from New York to California. The Geological Survey, in its search for potash, has sunk several deep holes in the deserts of Nevada and is now drilling one in the panhandle of Texas.
The Geological Survey is also making some laboratory experiments designed to aid in discovering a cheap process of separating potassium salts from natural brines. In these experiments special attention has been given to the evaporation of brines rich in potassium. The results of some of the earlier work were published late in 1915 as Professional Paper 95-E. More recent experiments t~ave been made with the natural brine from Searles Lake, Cal., which contains the equivalent of nearly 12 per cent. of potassium chloride in the solid salts. The results are given in a recent Survey publication, " Evaporation of Brine from Searles Lake, Cal.," by W. B. Hicks, issued as Professional Paper 98-A. This report shows the changes in the composition of the solution resulting from the evaporation of the brine, the composition of the crystals deposited from the hot solution during evaporation, and the composition of the crystals deposited when the solution was cooled. A copy of the report may be obtained free of charge by addressing the Director, United States Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.
The data recorded indicate that carefully-controlled fractional evaporation and crystallization, possibly combined with other treatment, promise much as a means of obtaining potassium from brines similar to that of Searles Lake. Further study of the behavior of the constituents of the brine under varying conditions may be made.
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