Salt

Saline water / saltwater is water with a high amount of salt in it. It often means the water from the seas and oceans. When scientists measure salt in water, they usually say they are testing the salinity of the water. Salt is harvested from the salt waters.

A Salt evaporation pond /salt pan is a man-made interlocking shallow pond. Usually it is located near the sea. The ponds can be filled with salt water. Such ponds also provide a habitat for several kinds of animals. Most of these animals are birds.

The sea water starts off with a natural salinity of about 3 degree and ends up at about 25 degree salinity. At this point, the salt starts to crystallize and can be harvested. The evaporator pond can be harvested once every 15 days.

Once it’s ready for harvesting, a truck with a rake attachment breaks up the salt bed. A harvester comes along to scoop up the salt and transfers it to dump trucks, which then carry the salt to the washing facility. The salt is rinsed first in a highly saturated solution to wash out other impurities. This salt is used as table salt.

I saw how the iodised crystal salt and free flowing salt are processed and packaged.

When the salt is harvested, it is taken into a big storage room. The salt looks like dunes of snow. The salt is almost to the ceiling. The salt is taken in a truck to the processing unit.

Only a certain quantity of salt will dissolve in water at any given temperature. Once the solution contains as much salt as it can hold, it is said to be saturated; any further additions of salt will not dissolve.

The water is then left to evaporate. Evaporation is the reverse of this process. When seawater is evaporated, each of the salts precipitates as it reaches its point of saturation in the solution. Thus, the different salts in seawater will precipitate at different times, forming layers on the bottom of the evaporating pond.

During this process of evaporation, the water from each pan keeps moving to the next evaporation pan leaving behind the heavy salts at the bottom.

The process of the crystal salt is,

First, the salt is sent through the Pulverizer. So that the uneven pieces can be ground to even sized pieces.

Next, the salt is manually checked to remove any dust.

Then, the iodine is added to the salt because it is good for health. They are mixed well.

After that, the iodised salt is passed through a drier and sent for packaging.

The process of the free flow salt is,

First, the impurities are removed from salt.

Next, the salt is cleaned in the highly saturated water because if salt is put into water, it will dissolve. So in highly saturated water the salt cannot be absorbed.

Then it is centrifuged to separate from water.

Next, the cleaned salt is dried.

After that, the free flowing salt is ready for packing.

The packaging is done automatically.

First, the amount that has to be filled in each packet is entered in the machine.

Next, the salt is filled in the packet and sealed automatically by the machine.

Then, the packaged salt is sent through a conveyor belt to be packed in a corrugated box and ready for sales.

I had fun eating salt while following the process.