Method of converting brines to useful products

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the FIGURE, a source of brine is introduced into tank 10 through conduit 11.
If the brine in question contains significant amounts of oil, as would be the case if the brine is oil or gas field waste, it may be necessary to remove traces of oil which are present in the brine.
Typically, there is approximately one-half pint of oil per barrel of brine when received from oil field operations.
This oil removal may be accomplished through the use of a surface skimmer which collects oil floating on the surface of the brine and may also be removed from the brine in a separation device such as a heater treater, which typically comprises a holding tank or the like which provides undisturbed residence time for separation of the oil from the brine.
Heat is supplied to accelerate the separation process.
This procedure is thoroughly disclosed in U.
S.
patent application Ser.
No.
727,804, and is not considered a part of this invention.
The thus treated brine may then be filtered to remove suspended solids and the brine is then introduced through conduit 11 into tank 10.
Ferrous ion in the brine in tank 10 is then oxidized with sodium peroxide (Na.
sub.
2 O.
sub.
2) or hydrogen peroxide (H.
sub.
2 O.
sub.
2).
However, air sparging may also be used.
Preferably this is done at a temperature of between 90.
degree.
and 100.
degree.
C.
The oxidizer may be added through conduit 12 from source tank 13.
The thus treated brine is conveyed through pipe 14 by means of pump 15 to tank 16 where phosphoric acid (preferably deflorinated) is added through conduit 17 from source tank 18 at a rate slightly less than that necessary to react with the divalent calcium ions, preferably in an amount to achieve 70 to 100 percent of the stoicheometric ratio of the phosphoric acid to the divalent calcium ions in the brine.
The resultant brine is pumped through pipe 19 by means of pump 20 to tank 21.
In tank 21 either sodium hydroxide or a mixture of sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate are added to the brine by means of conduit 22 from source tank 23