British Salt has recently completed one of a series of planned major projects at the Middlewich plant, replacing one of the heat exchangers used in the production of salt.
As part of its ongoing asset management plan to replace the end of life equipment, the business has replaced one of the six heat exchangers used in the evaporation stage of the salt production process. The completion of this project represents an investment of just under £1m in the plants future in order to maintain operating efficiency and reliability.
The heat exchangers complete a critical role in the process, heating purified brine to evaporate water and generate, through six evaporation stages, an increasingly dense salt slurry. The heat exchanger replaced in this project had been in operation for more than 30 years and was integrated into the existing plant.
British Salt has designed, installed and commissioned a new heat exchanger that incorporates exotic alloys such as Cupro Nickel to help mitigate the corrosive environment created when working with salt and brine.