Fluence has solutions for supplying potable and process water, as well as treating wastewater, when centralized treatment is unavailable

At mining installations, meeting water needs is often a difficult problem because they’re located far from centralized treatment plants. These industrial sites have dual water needs: both operational and residential.

Mines use water in a wide range of processes, including chemical or physical separation of minerals, transportation of ore slurries through pipelines, milling, and dust suppression, to name a few. Treating this process water involves several solutions. For example, various stages of lithium brine processing may use reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, and ion exchange.

At the same time, workers, often living on-site, need safe drinking water and wastewater treatment.

Solutions for Mining in Remote Areas

Where water grids are too distant to access, two Fluence product lines, Aspiral™ Flex and NIROBOX™, can be tailored and delivered to meet virtually any water need encountered at remote sites. Fluence has engineered its containerized units specifically for decentralization, which simply means meeting needs on-site with scaled-to-fit plants. Their weatherized steel containers — which have the same dimensions as standard shipping containers — stand up to harsh environments and simplify handling.

Reverse osmosis treatment of well water provides water for mining processes such as extraction, and can also purify and concentrate lithium brine. Low-pressure nanofiltration can be used for selective removal of hardness for higher purity brine. In addition to these specific applications, Fluence offers a comprehensive range of water treatment solutions tailored to the unique needs of remote mining operations. We can also reduce the volume of wastewater generated during the brine concentration process or recycle wastewater for nonpotable applications. In addition, we install lithium brine conditioning and heating systems.

Aspiral™ Flex’s modular design allows for efficient removal of contaminants like heavy metals and high salinity, while its compact footprint minimizes disruption at mining sites. Additionally, the ability to combine membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) technology with other treatment processes within the Aspiral™ Flex system ensures effective treatment even for challenging mining wastewater.

The lithium industry, in particular, relies on reverse osmosis for brine purification systems that reduce hardness and concentrate brine. NIROBOX™ reverse osmosis units have the ruggedness for the job at mining operations in the most forbidding regions. The energy-efficient units can also incorporate other processes, including ultrafiltration and nanofiltration, delivering exceptional quality control for the production of water for drinking, as well as for extraction and other processes.

Fluence Solutions at Work

For example, Chile and Peru now rely on desalination for a great deal of water at remote mining sites. With NIROBOX™ desalination, mining sites with access to a coastline or brackish aquifer can eliminate competition with drought-stricken communities for scarce sources of fresh water.

Installations include:

• Ady Resources Limited (Enirgi Group-Salar del Rincón): A 2,000 GPH (8 m³/h) lithium brine purification system reduces hardness and concentrates lithium brine, with reverse osmosis to produce water to reuse in the process.
• FMC-Minera del Altiplano’s Salar del Hombre Muerto in Argentina: A high-pressure, 33,000 GPH (125 m³/h) reverse osmosis plant concentrates lithium to support purification.
• Eramine: A water treatment plant featuring ultrafiltration and double-pass reverse osmosis was provided to this major player in the South American lithium mining sector, producing demineralized, drinking, and service water. Engineering services were rendered for development of a lithium brine oxidation operation.
• Minera Exar: Fluence delivered three ion exchange plants for hardness removal, lithium brine polishing, and soda ash hardness removal, including water and brine heat exchangers and an ozonation system.

Remote Worker Encampments

Where mining activities take place, workers frequently reside on-site. This creates a crucial demand for both potable water and adequate sanitation facilities. A decentralized, full-water-cycle solution from Fluence integrates water purification with wastewater treatment for sustainable, end-to-end water management, delivering unprecedented efficiency far from grids.

Fluence’s NIROBOX™ containerized water purification systems use reverse osmosis to simplify logistics and reduce costs as they provide a safe supply of drinking water.

For wastewater treatment, Fluence’s containerized Aspiral™ Flex line offers efficient and up-to-date treatment with a choice of technologies — including MABR and membrane bioreactor (MBR) — sharing the same simplified logistics as the NIROBOX™ family. Aspiral™ Flex transforms wastewater into a high-quality effluent that meets both California Title 22 and China Class 1A standards for nonpotable water reuse.

At remote worker encampments, our solutions contribute to worker health and efficiency with sanitary living conditions, pure water for drinking and showering, and nonpotable effluent for toilet flushing, irrigation, and dust control.

Sustainable Water Management for Any Remote Site

At other remote industrial operations, such as those operating at oil and gas plays, Fluence offers sustainable, innovative treatment for produced water, which includes reuse, treatment of water for reinjection, and treatment for compliant surface discharge.

Our solutions remove contaminants including total dissolved solids, oil, grease, and hydrocarbons, as well as residual organic and inorganic minerals from brine and produced water.

Fluence engineering has optimized water and wastewater treatment for use far from grids and infrastructure at mines, oil and gas plays, wilderness RV parks, disaster recovery operations, scientific stations, and virtually any other type of remote site. Our Water Management Services can even provide on-site treatment at no capital expense through the use of BOO (build-own-operate) and BOOT (build-own-operate-transfer) contracts. Contact our experts to start customizing solutions for your mining operation or other hard-to-reach site.