Bittern (salt)
[2][3] Bittern is commonly formed in salt ponds where the evaporation of water prompts the precipitation of halite.
These salt ponds can be part of a salt-producing industrial facility, or they can be used as a waste storage location for brines produced in desalination processes.
After the addition of bittern, precipitated magnesium hydroxide works as the coagulant to collect dye, solids, organic matter, and heavy metals from the wastewater before settling out of solution.
[6] Bittern can also be used as a source of magnesium ions (Mg2+) for the precipitation of struvite, a useful fertilizer, from wastewater containing nitrogen and phosphorus.
[11] The presence of Haloquadratum in an environment deemed inhospitable for most life has prompted closer study of these archaea.
A study has been performed exploring the use of bittern as a natural magnesium supplement used to decrease cholesterol spikes after a meal (postprandial hyperlipidemia).
[12] Due to its high salinity, bittern can also be used as a draw solution for an osmotic process that concentrates sucrose in sugarcane juice.
[14] Even small increases in salinity can disrupt marine species' osmotic balances, which may result in the death of the organism in some cases.
The lack of adequate disposal methods for bitterns and concerns of local commercial and recreational fishing associations about bitterns’ deleterious impacts upon local fish and prawn hatchery areas led the Western Australian EPA in 2008 to recommend against the proposed 4.2 million tonne per annum Straits Salt project in The Pilbara region of WA.
The EPA concluded that: ...the proposed solar salt farm is located in an area that presents unacceptably high risks of environmental harm to wetland values and unacceptable levels of uncertainty in relation to long term management of bitterns.
[...] A high level of uncertainty in relation to the proponent’s ability to manage the ongoing production of over 1 million cubic metres per annum of bitterns C, which is toxic to marine biota and therefore likely to degrade wetland and biodiversity values should bitterns discharge occur either accidentally or be required to maintain salt farm production in the long term.
