Applications of salt

Industrial salt – mineral salt:

Here are some basic, important, strategic, and non-substitute mineral salt applications in the Middle East and country industries. First, a brief description of the salt consumption sharing in different industries is described: It is interesting to note that less than 10% of the total consumption of industrial salts and refined salts is consumed in the food industry. And about 90 percent of the country’s salt is used in non-edible and non-food industries.

Means all the salt is used in the food sector including food factories, protein, canned foods, salinities, olives, snacks, nuts, dairy and directly as cooking salt in restaurants, catering, hotels, catering and in the form of package for selling in the stores and for using in home kitchens, table tops and dining tables , totally, includes about 10 percent of total salt consumption, of course, as it mentioned before, not all of that 10 percent salt is refined, and as a matter of fact, the market is largely based on mineral salt.

So about 90 percent of the total amount of salt consumed in the country is in non-food industries. The question is here! Which industries?

Here are some of the applications of industrial-mineral salts in various industries:

Drilling salt: Used in the production of drilling fluids, different amounts of salt are used to produce the drilling mud depending on the type of soil and the location of the drilling.

Antifreeze salt: In the cold season, salt is used as an antifreeze to prevent freezing of roads and streets, as well as for the greater strength of many materials, including concrete.

Livestock and poultry salt: Salt rock and crushed salt are widely used in various grading in the provision of hygienic and food for light and heavy livestock as well as poultry.

Tanning salt: Crushed salt with a wide variety of grading is widely used in the maintenance and processing of animals’ skin and leather.

Textile salt: Salt is widely used in spinning, weaving, dyeing, fabric making.

Industrial Salt: Many industries use salt as a raw material or even as a catalyst to produce their final products. For examples: chemical industry, paint, glue, resin, acidification, chlorination, color stabilization, hardening, resin resuscitation, boiler wash, and boiler.

Salt in industry and fisheries: Widely used for breeding a variety of cold and warm water fish, antifungal, anti-parasite and post-fishing maintenance.

Salt in the food industry: Both mineral salt and refined salt are used in almost all food industries, for example:

Pickles and salinity salt

Salt in bitterness and olive cultivation

Salt in dairy products particularly yogurt, cheese and whey

Salt in the production of protein materials: sausages, ham, nuggets, etc.

Salt in the canned food and canning industries

Salt in the production of refreshments such as: chips, snacks, cakes, cookies, biscuits, etc.

Salt in the oil industry from vegetable seeds (oiling) such as canola oil, Colza, corn, sunflower, etc.

• Edible Salt – Refined Salt:

Salt extracted from the mine goes to the refined salt production factory, after the production process the useful salt in the food sector, reaches a purity higher than 99.2%; there have been several methods used to do this for a long time, but today the highest purity and the most expensive and most costly method is refining through recrystallization. Since the salt rock has once been crystallized in the salt rock mine and converted into salt crystals (which is called sugary salt or shellfish salt after being crushed in an industrial salt factory) and once crystallized in the centrifuge of the edible salt plant, too- Which increases purity- This salt is called recrystallization salt. In salt production, recrystallization is followed by further steps to purify and enhance the salt quality, which usually results in higher than 99.5% purity.

However, assuming that in the laboratory environment the salt rock is soluble in water to a certain extent, some of the impurities will be insoluble in the water (precipitate). Now if we pass the above solution from the laboratory filters and heat the filtered solution only to evaporate the water; what remains in the bottom of the container is the salt with a higher purity than the original rock. This method is one of the old salt treatment methods that is less commonly used today, but is still used because of its low cost and acceptable quality. For a better understanding of the issues raised, let’s take a look at the numbers. Assume that the analysis of mineral rock properties determined 98% purity and 1% water insoluble impurity. It is well known that by using the filtration method (mentioned above), after evaporation of water and extraction of salt from the bottom of the container, its purity will easily reach 99%. Now, what to do to reduce water-soluble impurities?

What is especially happening at salt crystallization factories is related to this part of the story. Water-insoluble impurities removal that are not removed by the filter. Of course, some are not necessarily harmful. However, chemical salts are also added to remove microorganisms and consequent contaminants which is of course standard and does not have as much concern for human health if consumed normally. Now that we are familiar with the process of producing refined salt, or edible salt, We need to know that iodized compounds in the form of potassium iodate (KIO3) are added to the salt as an additive to meet the body’s need for iodine (thyroid gland) and no salt is initially iodine by itself (Unless small amounts are sometimes naturally present in salt rock, there have been few reports of iodine compounds in salt rock).

Types of refined-edible salt:

Iodine-free refined salt for food industry and iodized refined salt for sale in retail stores and hypermarkets, are prepared. According to existing rules, it is not possible to pack iodine-free salt in small packages (several hundred grams). It goes without saying that it is not possible to pack unrefined mineral salt in small packages (several hundred grams).