Patent ID: 8888867

Claim:
A process for producing sodium chloride comprising the steps of: (i) preparing, in a brine production cavern, a brine having a sodium chloride concentration which is higher than the sodium chloride concentration of the eutectic point but lower than the sodium chloride concentration of a saturated brine by dissolving a sodium chloride source in water; (ii) cooling the resulting brine by indirect cooling in a self-cleaning fluidized bed heat exchanger/crystallizer to a temperature lower than 0° C. but higher than the eutectic temperature of the resulting brine, thereby forming a slurry comprising sodium chloride dihydrate and a first mother liquor; (iii) feeding the sodium chloride dihydrate to a recrystallizer to form sodium chloride and a second mother liquor, and (iv) recycling at least part of the first mother liquor and/or the second mother liquor to step (i).