MMXVII AbstractA combined natural freezing and melting water recovery process was evaluated for a 0.5 molal magnesium sulphate solution. 500 mL of solution was placed in a container open to the air, and the temperature was lowered to between -2 and -26 °C. At equilibrium the solid produced, consisting of ice and entrapped solution or solute crystals, was removed and thawed at either 3 °C or 25 °C. The resulting liquid was analysed for magnesium. Microscopy of the solid was also performed. Although the purity of the liquid was not affected by the thawing temperature, solid frozen at -26 °C yielded the best purity when melted, as 40% of the original water could be recovered at a concentration of 0.075 molal magnesium sulphate. This is because during melting entrapped solution drains from the solid faster than the ice melts, increasing liquid concentration at earlier stages of melting.iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Vladimiros G. Papangelakis, for his patience and support over not just the two years of this MASc program, but the four years in which I have been a researcher in his laboratory. I would also like to thank Professor Donald W. Kirk and Professor Nikolai DeMartini for agreeing on such short notice to participate in my thesis committee at an extremely busy time of year. Their wisdom and sagacity are as much appreciated as they are necessary.

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