Crystallization path of salts from brine in Zabuye Salt Lake, Tibet, during isothermal evaporation

Zabuye Salt Lake in Tibet, China is a carbonate-type lake, rich in Li, B, K and other useful trace elements that are of great economic value. We studied the concentration behavior of these elements and the crystallization paths of salts in the brine at 25 C, based on an isothermal evaporation experiment. The crystallization sequence of the primary salts from the brine is halite - aphthitalite - zabuyelite - sylvite - trona and thermonatrite in accordance with the metastable phase diagram. In the experiment, zabuyelite was precipitated in the early stage in the brine at 25 degrees C. Potassium was precipitated as sphthitalite in the intermediate stage and as sylvite in the late stage, while boron was concentrated in the early and intermediate stages and precipitated as borax in the late stage