K+S Potash Canada, a subsidiary of the K+S Group, has awarded Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies a multi-million dollar contract to supply the evaporation and crystallisation equipment constituting the core process system for a greenfield potash project. The new evaporation plant is part of K+S Potash Canada’s Legacy project located in the Saskatchewan. The plant is scheduled to begin production at the end of 2015.

Veolia’s stated that its HPD technology “provided the lowest operating costs for the plant” and that K+S Potash Canada had selected it for its “ability to execute large projects and their commitment to energy and water conservation.” The plant will be the largest solution mining plant in North America and is designed to produce more than 2 Mt of potassium chloride by 2017.

Veolia will provide engineering and equipment supply for the evaporation and crystallisation plant, which is the core of the production process. It is where the brine that is recovered from the solution mining process is evaporated, sodium and potassium chloride (potash) are crystallised and the potash is separated from the brine. The potash is then refined into a high quality end product.