American Soda Project

This soda ash and sodium bicarbonate facility will mine more than 1.4 million tpy of natural sodium bicarbonate (nahcolite) for conversion into approximately 800,000 tpy of soda ash and 150,000 tpy of U.S.P. grade sodium bicarbonate.  Aker Solutions completed the EPC contract on a lump-sum basis.

Innovative Process

Aker Solutions helped American Soda design an innovative solution mining technology.  High-pressure hot water is pumped 1,500 – 2,000 feet underground to dissolve nahcolite nodules, which come to the surface in the form of a sodium bicarbonate solution.  The solution is stripped of carbon dioxide and transported via a 45 mile, underground insulated pipeline to a processing facility at lower elevation, where it is converted to either soda ash or sodium bicarbonate.  The depleted slurry is pumped back to the upper plant site for re-injection.  The process has zero discharge, does not create any tailings or waste, and results in minimal surface impact.

Project economics were improved by placing some of the processing facilities at the lower site, which is closer to existing infrastructure.

Accelerated Construction

The plant was constructed at an accelerated pace, compressing the construction schedule from 17 to 9 months, and the work was completed five weeks ahead of schedule.