A Raman investigation on the boron form occurring in salt lake brine during evaporation

Boron resources are abundant in Da Qaidam salt lake of Qaidamu Basin. It has been given great attention for the polyborate species present in brine. In this study, the Raman spectroscopy was applied to investigate the existing-form of boron in brine during evaporation. The prepared solutions of MgO·2B2O3-H2O, MgO·2B2O3-MgCl2 -H2O, and MgO·2B2O3-MgSO4-H2O was also evaporated and recorded to study the influence of boron concentration, pH, and electrolytes on the borate speciation in brine. The mononborates of B(OH)3 and B(OH)4- were found to be the only forms present in the original salt lake brine. Brine evaporation promotes the formation of polyborate anions B3O3(OH)4-, B5O6(OH)4-, and B6O7(OH)62- and also disappearance of the B(OH)4- ion in brine with boron concentration of more than 11 g/L in B2O3. The pentaborate ion of B5O6(OH)4- was sensitive to the solution pH and found to be appeared under the pH value of 8.0. While the hexaborate ion of B6O7(OH)62- was observed more dependent on the electrolyte of magnesium chloride due to its special properties, such as promoting boron accumulation, lowering solution pH, and also the strong af?nity for water molecules, which is beneficial to the polymerization of borate ions in brine. The interaction mechanisms among polyborate anions during evaporation had also been proposed.