Usolye Subdivision

About us

Russol is the largest salt compan in Russia and the CIS countries. We believe that the only way to create the best is to do the job perfectly.

Usolye Subdivision

Over
4 billion tons of salt reserves
90,3-98,5 % NaCl Brine
150 Employees
Usolye Subdivision

One of the most impressive deposits in Russia is located in the city of Usolye-Sibirsky, Irkutsk Region. According to experts, its reserves are more than 4 billion tons.

History

The history of the development of salt mining technology at Usolye deposit has more than 350 years. In 1669, salt mines were formed in Eastern Siberia by Anisim Mikhalev. Until the end of the 17th century, several owners changed at the salt plant, it was alternately owned by merchants, then princes, then a monastery.

The cost of the final product in those years was very high, the productivity of salt pans was extremely low. The brines had a low concentration, about 9-12%. They were obtained from the first well drilled to a depth of 190 m.

Until 1862, salt production was carried out in 8 black vats, arranged in a chaotic manner, until the work of the workers was recognized by the manager of the plant, Tarasov, as harmful and “inconvenient for health”.

Contact us

60 Usolie-Sibirskoe st. Named after N.K. Krupskaya, Usolsky District, Irkutsk Region

+7 (39543) 5-11-00

info@russalt.ru

The path to improving the technologies for the production of evaporated salt was long and thorny. Specialists were sent to Eastern Siberia, to the Usolye springs, with the aim of “establishing more optimal methods for the production of salt”. Thus, in 1875, the Ministry of Finance sent a mining engineer L. Pershke to get acquainted with the state of affairs at Usolye Salt Plant, from which many rationalization proposals were received to improve the technology. It was he who came up with the idea of ​​brine saturation in cooling towers, which was applied in 1910, as a result, the salt content in them reached 15-18%.

The first well that produced saturated brine was drilled in 1924, its depth was 692 meters. However, it has also revealed only the top layer of salt.

Until 1923, Usolye salt was mined in a semi-artisanal way: brines were pumped from a shallow depth, the salt was evaporated in quadrangular iron tanks.

At the suggestion of engineer A.P. Plotnikov and technician K.P. Shulga, a new method of salt extraction was proposed, which is still used today. From the old salt pans, only legends remained; a salt-vacuum plant was built in a new place.

Deposit Features

Just 150 km from the field is the cleanest and bluest lake on the planet – Baikal.

The Usolye rock salt deposit (eastern part), which is part of the vast Angara-Lena basin, covers the territory of modern river basins of the upper and middle reaches of the Angara River, the upper reaches of the Lena and Nizhnyaya Tunguska rivers.

In the geological structure, the Usolye field is made up of Lower Cambrian, Jurassic and Quaternary deposits, which are represented by the Usolye, Belskaya, Buda and Angarskaya suites.

The Usolye suite is the main object of extraction of the CDPS Usolye and represents rock salt beds, the thickness of which ranges from 11.5 m to 84.8 m.

Method of Salt Extraction and Processing

The extraction of brine is carried out by the method of underground dissolution of natural rock salt in the layers. The formations are opened by boreholes, the average depth of which reaches 1380 m. The well is equipped with three pipe strings (pipe in pipe). Water is supplied through the water supply column, which erodes the salt layer. Salt-saturated brine at a concentration of 305-315 g/l rises to the surface along the brine intake column and enters the chemical treatment department. The brine is purified from natural impurities by the lime-sulfate-soda method. As a result, insoluble precipitates are collected in the lower part of the reactor and go into the sludge accumulator in the form of sludge. Sludge is not a source of release of harmful substances into the atmospheric air, because sludge is an aqueous suspension containing water and non-volatile sediments: calcium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide, sodium chloride, sodium sulfate, iron oxide. When water evaporates from the sludge, it becomes a dry and non-dusty mass, which does not harm the environment. The final product (purified brine) becomes 50-70 times cleaner than the feedstock.

Further, the purified brine enters the salt boiling section, where, using a mechanical evaporative recompression system, a high-quality product is obtained through evaporation and crystallization – salt, extra grade,with a NaCL content of 99.9%.

Production Upgrade

Russalt uses VMR-technology unique for Russia. This technology uses secondary steam for crystallization in the production of evaporated salt.

Profound upgrade of the plant has been carried out since 2011 until 2014 and the company does not intend to stop there. The company’s management is constantly investing in further upgrade and automatisation of production.

The main trend in the development of the company’s production technologies is the deep automation of all production processes. This is done for the most comfortable and safe work of a person.

Modern equipment for packaging finished product has also been put into operation on packaging production lines from the most modern equipment suppliers in the world.

A complete upgrade of the brine chemical treatment department and the brine production site was carried out using composite materials for pipelines and pumping equipment. The implementation of these projects has consolidated the position of Russalt as the most modern manufacturer of extra grade salt in Russia and the CIS countries.

Salt Characteristics and Composition

Extra grade salt produced in Usolye-Sibirsky is the hallmark of the region, it is considered the best in the world.

Due to a slight decrease in the density of the product, it was possible to achieve a unified size of all crystals. Now the particle size distribution of the salt does not contain dust, which previously led to its caking. This makes it possible to add an anti-caking agent in the minimum amount necessary to maintain the consumer properties of the product.

The purity of Usolye salt, extra grade,is the highest, close to the pharmacopoeial, the content of the main substance – sodium chloride – in it is 99.9%.

Production

The commissioning of new packaging equipment made it possible to produce products packed in 1 kg cardboard packs, 1 kg plastic bags, packed in strong sealed 50 kg polyethylene bags and 25 kg sealed polyethylene bags.

The salt packaging process is fully automated, and modern packaging materials favorably distinguish products in terms of aesthetic and quality characteristics.

Salt tablets have also been added to the production line. Packed in polypropylene bags of 25 kg, tablets are obtained by pressing the evaporated salt, extra grade. The matrix gives the product the shape of a tablet with a diameter of 25 mm and a height of 17.5 mm. The weight of one unit is 15 g. The tablets have a perfectly even, smooth surface and white color. Salt tablets produced by Russalt have excellent quality and structural characteristics, which have no analogues in Russia.