The demand for common salt in India is increasing by 5-6% due to industrial consumption. However, salt production faces challenges from reduced sunny days, unseasonal rains, brine dilution, and damage to harvested salt. In India, due to the drastic climate change in last four years salt production reduced up to 30 %. Land under salt production is limited to ~ 5lac acres in India. Salt production in additional land will lead to salinity ingress.
The system is to increase the salt yield from 60 to 85 tons per acres land area by applying a heat exchanger assisted by solar energy devices in brine stored in existing open salt pans itself to enhance the evaporation rate of brine during salt production process.
The integrated approach utilized
- Edible dyes, a solar energy-operated recirculating heat enhancing system, raceway paddle wheel system, and circulatory turbulence system.
- Pilot-scale testing at the Experimental Salt Farm of CSMCRI, Bhavnagar, resulted in an increased salt yield from 60 tons per acre to 85 tons per acre.
Salient features of the technology:
- Simple processing steps
- Minimized energy consumption
- Continuous process
- Yield and quality can be increased
- Environmentally friendly
- Short payback period of 3.5 years
Annual salt demand in India is rising by 5-6%, driven largely by rise in industrial consumption, particularly for caustic soda and soda ash and exports. The salt demand is increasing and feasible coastal land is limited for salt production, which leads to the consistent increase in demand of salt and rise the salt price. The present system is to increase the salt yield by enhancing evaporation rate of brine in existing salt pond area.
The salt production quality can be increased by reducing salt cycle duration by 30-40 % compared to natural solar evaporation.
This is an eco-friendly process. Completely based on renewable energy / solar energy
Sea water/Subsoil brine, Fresh water
Solar device, Brine pond/tank, Hollow tubes, Rotameter, Thermocouple, Pump, Solar panel, Overhead tank, hollow pipes, Motor, VFD, Gear Box, Gudder
- The integrated method has the capability to boost solar salt yield by at least 25%.
- Evaporation increased (depth reduced) was 1.28 cm/day
- Evaporation increased (total depth reduced) was 11.48 cm/ cycle
- 48.52 % evaporation rate increased in summer months (May-June)
- Avg. and Max. Temp. increased: 1.2oC & 4.8oC
- Design details & Flow diagram (Case-to-case basis)
- System validation & Demonstration
- Technology Transfer with consultation
