Sulfate minerals (SMs), such as BaSO₄, SrSO₄, and CaSO₄, precipitate when incompatible solutions from the oil industry, such as seawater (SW) and high-salinity brine solutions (HSBSs), are mixed during the oil production process. To investigate the potentiality to extract SM by mixing three different brine solutions, such as HSBS-1, -2, and -3, with SW, at different temperatures and pressures, a practical simple model was used to predict the saturation index (SI), the quantity of precipitated minerals (Y), and the induction time (t_ind) required for precipitation. From the results, it was found that CaSO₄ hemihydrate and SrSO₄ yield lower amounts of precipitate. BaSO₄ precipitation ranges from 20 to 60 mg/L and 1500 mg/L of CaSO₄ anhydrous under ambient conditions. These findings suggest that recovering low-solubility minerals is technically feasible and environmentally preferable to direct disposal.

Kuwait is a country with great potential for concentrated solar power (CSP) due to its high solar resource. The current work analyzes the potential of the application of CSP technology in the country and its particularities. Specifically, the current work examines a CSP plant with parabolic trough collector (PTC) technology and how this technology is affected in its performance depending on the location (inland or coastal) and the refrigeration system (wet, dry, or seawater cooled). The modeling methodology is based on a two-step approach: first, the Rankine steam power cycle is modeled in detail in a state-of-the-art steady-state simulation environment, obtaining the performance of the power cycle for each cooling technology; second, the power cycle performance maps are integrated into a detailed transient system-level simulation model of the complete CSP plant in order to perform annual yield simulations for the different representative locations of the climate of Kuwait. These results provide valuable information on both the potential of this technology for its more immediate application such as electricity generation and other future applications such as the desalination of seawater where the location must necessarily be coastal.

Mineral extraction from brine solutions is a vital issue for resource recovery in many fields of industry, especially in desalination processes. Usually, the solubility limit is viewed as a key factor that plays a determinant role in the efficiency of a prescribed process. This paper suggests the investigation of the influence of ionic strength, which is a measure of the total concentration of all dissolved ions, on the solubility limits in brines that are extracted from desalination facilities in Kuwait before discharging them into the Persian Gulf. For this purpose, the solubility of two main minerals (CaSO₄ and Mg(OH)₂) was measured for several values of ionic strength achieved by adjusting the concentration of the brine solutions. Brine samples were characterized and concentrated to achieve ionic strength values that are in the range of 1.1–2.0 mol/L. An adapted supersaturation-equilibration method was applied to determine solubility limits. Results show a non-linear relationship between ionic strength and the solubility limit of the target minerals, with behavior similar to that which could be found in the literature. In the case of CaSO₄, it was found that the solubility exhibits an increase (salting in effect) at low ionic strength, followed by a decrease at higher ionic strength (>1.1 M) (salting-out effect). On the other hand, the solubility of Mg(OH)₂ in Kuwait brine water was shown to decrease as the ionic strength increased. These trends, validated against literature data, are attributed to non-ideal solution behavior and specific ion interactions in the complex brine matrix. The findings of this work provide crucial insights for process design, enabling more precise control over precipitation steps and enhancing the overall yield and economic viability of mineral extraction from complex brine resources.