Brine Brine is used for food processing and cooking (pickling and brining), for de-icing of roads and other structures, and in a number of technological processes. It is also a by-product of many industrial processes, such as desalination, and may pose an environmental risk due to its corrosive and toxic effects, so it requires wastewater treatment for proper disposal. Saline water with relatively high concentration of salt (usually sodium chloride) occurs naturally on Earth's surface (salt lakes), crust, and within brine pools on ocean bottom. Numerous processes exist which can produce brines in nature. Modification of seawater via evaporation results in
Brine mining include both surface water (seawater and saline lakes) and groundwater (shallow brine beneath saline or dry lakes, and deep brines in sedimentary basins). Brine brought to the surface by geothermal energy wells often contains high concentrations of minerals, but is not currently used for commercial mineral extraction. Seawater has been used as a source of sea salt since prehistoric times, and more recently of magnesium and bromine. Potassium is sometimes recovered from the bittern left after salt precipitation. The oceans are often described as an inexhaustible resource. There are many saline lakes with salinity greater than seawater, making them attractive