Brine rejection from freezing salt solutions: a molecular dynamics study

The atmospherically and technologically very important process of brine rejection from freezing salt solutions is investigated with atomic resolution using molecular dynamics simulations. The present calculations allow us to follow the motion of each water molecule and salt ion and to propose a microscopic mechanism of brine rejection, in which a fluctuation (reduction) of the ion density in the vicinity of the ice front is followed by the growth of a new ice layer. The presence of salt slows down the freezing process, which leads to the formation of an almost neat ice next to a disordered brine layer.