Simon Bourgault-Côté and Alexis St-Gelais
“Kick the Salt Away”
The Canadian project developed a six step chemical process to efficiently remove magnesium, calcium, sulphate, chloride, potassium and sodium ions from water. Multiple techniques such as: precipitation, liquid-liquid extraction and chemical products conversion, were used to create the process.
The young scientists will continue working on optimizing the process for the future by removing a weak reaction with potassium, lowering the costs of the treatment, and removing the remaining non-toxic sodium bicarbonate thorough the use of flocculates.