Hello.

Can common salt be separated from brine with a centrifugue? How do Cl- and Na+ ions densities compare to water molecules and are affected by hyper gravitational forces?

Miguel

The solubility won't be altered by the centrifugation. NaCl will dissolve in water if water is present. What you will do is move the denser NaCl solution to the bottom of the vessel and relatively pure water will be at the top. However just like having two different gases in the same vessel, eventually it will all mix back together again.

Thanks, jdurg !

As am not thinking this for a batch type/test tube laboratory centrifuge, but for a continuous-flow industrial type as in:

 

http://www.alfalaval.com/ecoreJava/WebObjects/ecoreJava.woa/wa/showNode?siteNodeID=5381&contentID=-1&languageID=1

 

[These machines run at 10 thousand G's, I know their performance from the years I worked at a fishmeal plant where these extract oil from fish 'broth']

 

---> Can I interpret your answer as... A centrifuge can be used as a desalinator if fed with seawater ? Would ions respond sustantially different to extreme gravity than water itself ? Which would float, ions or water ?

 

Miguel

hmm, you could certainly decrease the concentration but i don't think it would be practical to decrease it to safe amounts as it would require a lot of cycles.