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Pilot-scale production of high-purity vaterite-type calcium carbonate from desalination brine using industrial by-products
27 January 2026

Abstact
The rapid growth of global desalination raises concerns over high-salinity brine disposal. Vaterite, a valuable but unstable polymorph of CaCO₃, is difficult to mass-produce. This study reports the first pilot-scale production of high-purity vaterite using actual desalination brine and cement kiln dust. A 1-ton system was built and operated at the SWA-WTIIRA desalination complex in Jubail, Saudi Arabia. Through calcium elution and carbonation, conditions were optimized to achieve ≥95 % vaterite content and sub-3 µm particle size. Controlling carbonation temperature and drying prevented transformation to calcite. The process yielded porous, spherical vaterite particles (>20 m²/g surface area, >98.5 % purity). Techno-economic analysis estimated production costs at $2.5/kg, significantly below commercial pharmaceutical-grade vaterite. These findings demonstrate a scalable, low-cost strategy for valorizing desalination brine and industrial by-products, offering both environmental and economic benefits.