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This study aimed to develop a novel, sustainable, highly efficient, and affordable salt processing technology tailored to local salt producers. Novel technology converts raw solar sea salt into the finest dried salt, which is widely accepted by various industries. Experiments were conducted at a drying temperature of 80°C, with an air velocity of 30 m/s, and a feed rate of 125 kg per hour to evaluate the proposed novel salt processing technology. Performance evaluation was based on product quality parameters (e.g. wet moisture content, sodium chloride (NaCl) percentage, and whiteness) and specific energy consumption. The economic assessment relied on financial analysis and payback period parameters. The results indicated a reduction in salt sample moisture content from 10.37% ± 0.4% to 0.47% ± 0.02%, with NaCl percentage and whiteness of the salt produced at 98.5% ± 0.3% and 81 ± 0.7, respectively. The specific energy consumption for the novel salt processing technology was 0.119 ± 0.07 kWh/kg of the final salt product. Initial investment requirements totalled IDR 275,435,000, with a payback period of 1.66 years. This proposed novel salt processing technology has the potential to generate high-quality dried salt with a production efficiency of 89.5%. Consequently, it could enhance local producer’s businesses, seize opportunities in the national salt market, support rural industrialisation, and be best configured for Indonesia’s local salt producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for salt in Indonesia has recently intensified, as evidenced by the increasing salt demand in various sectors, including consumption, industry, and pharmaceuticals. However, this need has not been fulfilled optimally because of the dependence of salt production on natural weather. Thus, the development of enhanced evaporation technologies to improve evaporation rates has gained much attention. This study aimed to use proposed technology to enhance salt production by evaporating seawater. This method was used to accelerate the evaporation rate of brine by increasing its specific gravity before it entered a crystallization pond. An experimental investigation was carried out to determine the evaporation rate of the system. The results showed that this system can improve the evaporation rate by 11 times compared to conventional methods. The highest accumulated evaporation rate that could be achieved was 34.85 L/m2/day, while the lowest accumulated evaporation rate was found to be 23.6 L/m2/day. Using the proposed system, the time required to enhance the brine specific gravity from 1,030 kg/m3 to 1,208 kg/m3 can be reduced from 30 days to 15 days. This study revealed that using a convection-improved solar salt evaporation system can enhance brine evaporation and reducing the current time consumption and land requirements of saltworks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The salt quality was studied by dewatering methods such as centrifugal hydro extraction, fixed bed dryer, and rotary drum dryer. The effect of different salt particle sizes was also analyzed. The centrifugal hydro extractor is found to be effective when reducing the high-water content of salt and suitable for reducing water content after the salt wash stage. Fixed bed dryers produce lower water content than rotary drum dryers. A water content lower than 1% can be achieved using fixed bed dryers. Finally, all dewatering methods such as centrifugal hydro extractors, fixed bed dryers, and rotary bed dryers are suitable for salt production methods. Reduced salt particle size from 30 to 60 mesh also improved the drying performance.

Studies were conducted on the salt quality, such as NaCl percent and whiteness achieved by dry and wet grinding methods. Crude solar salt is carefully collected from traditional solar salt ponds to ensure the uniformity of the sample. Several salt processing methods were applied in this research, such as washing, grinding, and dewatering by centrifuge hydro extractor and drying. The effect of reducing salt particle size to 0.6 and 0.25 mm was also studied. The dry grinding method is conducted before the washing stage, while the wet grinding method is applied after the washing stage. Both dry and wet grinding methods provide high-quality salt products, indicating high NaCl percent and whiteness. The dry grinding method produces higher NaCl percent and whiteness than the wet grinding method. However, the wet grinding method was better in water management and equipment durability with loss of salt losses during the washing stage. Finally, both grinding methods have advantages and disadvantages, so for developing the salt processing industry, both methods should be correctly chosen and match product output requirements.

The mineral content of seawater is a natural raw material to produce rich mineral sea salt. Rich mineral sea salt is a consumption salt with a NaCl content of <50% used to live a low sodium diet for a healthy lifestyle. In general, traditional sea salt was produced with the multistage evaporation method to obtain a NaCl content of = 94.7%, whereas the production of rich mineral sea salt uses a total evaporation method and then removes the salt flower at a certain concentration to get low sodium chlorine and contain other natural minerals. This study aims to analyze the chemical content of the raw material of rich mineral sea salt. The location of seawater used as raw material for rich mineral sea salt is Camplong District, Sampang Regency. Samples were obtained from sea level with a distance of ± 400 m from the coastline and carried out during high tide conditions. The chemical analysis of seawater samples consists of Na, Mg, Ca, K, Fe, Cl- dan SO4 2-. The analysis method is based on the Indonesian National Standard of environmental quality test. The results of the major mineral analysis showed that the largest mineral content of seawater was calcium (Ca2+) at 492.350±10.395 mg/L and Sodium (Na+) at 482,000±1.979 mg/L. In contrast, the smallest mineral content is iron mineral (Fe2+) of < 0.08 mg/L. These results will be used for preliminary data before producing naturally rich mineral sea salt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]