Bechtel International Corporation

Joseph M Fox, Iii

Irving Leibson

Bruce D Degen

Carnallite, comprising principally of MgCl.sub.2. KCl.6H.sub.2 O, with varying amounts of sodium chloride and other impurities, is dissolved in a lower saturated monohydric aliphatic alcohol having from one to four carbon atoms such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropyl alcohol, N-butyl alcohol, secondary-butyl alcohol, iso-butyl alcohol, and tert-butyl alcohol, to dissolve the magnesium chloride therein leaving an insoluble residue of principally potassium chloride, sodium chloride and other materials. The residue is filtered from the solution, dried and stored or further processed. The filtrate, a magnesium chloride hydrate solution is further processed by injecting steam or water into the solution and removing, e.g., evaporating the methanol from the solution leaving an aqueous magnesium chloride hexahydrate brine. The recovered methanol is dried by distillation, condensed and recycled. The brine is stored for subsequent processing or dehydrated to a magnesium chloride dihydrate and granulated for storage and subsequent use.

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Lafayette, CA, United States of America

Joseph M Fox, Iii