Upgrading Salt Purification by Using Hydroextraction Method

• Main Author: Dita Wibawanti (NIM : 13013050), Farah
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/22075
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Indonesia is known as a maritime country which has the fourth longest cost line all over the world. That condition can make Indonesia to produce salt in a great amount. However, the salt production of national salt can not fulfill yet the purity standard (%-w/w NaCl), thus Indonesia imports salt from Australia, India, and China for industrial salt commodity. That high quantity of imported salt is caused by the low quality of national salt and not qualified regarding the industrial salt purity. Therefore, it is needed to find a method which can increase the purity of national salt, so the amount of imported salt can be minimized and national salt can compete in domestic salt market. One of technologies that can upgrade the purity of national salt is hydroextraction method. Hydroextraction is purifying salt method to get rid of all the impurities by fluidizing brine and contacting it to the unpurified salt. This research aims to determine the optimum operation variable in salt hydroextraction method. Operation variable varies regarding to size of salt (8-16 mesh, 16-30 mesh, 30-50 mesh) and extraction time (1 hour, 2 hour, and 4 hour). Salt from indramayu which has 81.91%-w/w NaCl is used as feed, while brine is made of industrial salt with 98.5%-w/w NaCl. Hydroextraction process will be held with brine flow rate 28 mL/s. The result data of this research will be used to know the content percentage of NaCl of salt in hydroextraction method. <br /> <br /> The result has shown that as the size of salt feed decreased, the longer exctraction time, the quality of salt produced by hydroextraction method tended to increase. The highest NaCl content, 96.05%-w/w, was resulted by size of salt in 30-50 mesh, extraction time 4 hours. This result had achieved the quality standard of industrial salt, such as chemical industry (Chlor Alkali Plant), oil industry, leather tanning industry, and water treatment.