Salt Project - Responsibility

Juliette Xin Labatut

Section 1 - Sources of salt

Salt, otherwise known as sodium chloride (NaCl), has been used by humans for thousands
of years. Most of the earth’s salt comes from seawater (process described below), which has
naturally occurring salt and creates sea salt. Seawater, on average, has a salinity of 3.5%,
which means there is 35g of salt per kilo of seawater. The world’s oceans have an
abundance of salt, so there is no risk of our planet running out of seawater. Another source
of salt is sodium chloride mineral halite, which is more commonly known as rock salt. The
difference between rock salts and seawater is that rock salts have to actually be mined in a
solid form.

Section 2 - Mining and subsidence

According to the National Geographic Society, mining is “the process of extracting useful
materials from the earth”. This process plays a crucial role in collecting precious minerals
and metals such as gold, coal and salt. One specialised mining technique for extracting salts
is solution mining. Solution mining includes pumping water or another solvent (a substance
that can dissolve a solute) into underground salt deposits, dissolving the salt (the solute),
and then bringing this solution back to the surface, and then using evaporation to extract the
salt. Evaporation is a process in which you use heat energy to turn a liquid (in this case it is
the salt and water solution) into a vapour/gas. By evaporating the solution, you would turn
the water in the solution into a vapour, but the salt would be left behind, therefore leaving
you with salt. Subsidence refers to the gradual sinking or collapse of the ground. In mining,
subsidence occurs because of the voids created underground from mining, which lead to the
ground becoming extremely unstable. In traditional mining, removing these large quantities
of land underground, makes the ground unstable, causing roads, ecosystems and buildings
to be affected. It can lead to buildings breaking down due to their basic foundations
crumbling, or the underground pipes on roads can be damaged. Although rare, solution
mining can also create subsidence, as dissolving the salt can cause a smaller void
underground.
Solution mining is considered superior to standard mining for salt extraction for many
reasons, as firstly, solution mining has a much lower environmental impact. Traditional
mining requires a large amount of digging, which not only disrupts the landscape but also
creates noise pollution around the area. Disrupting the landscape can cause animals to lose
their habitat, which would completely damage the food chains going on in that area. Digging
also creates a large amount of waste rock (rock that does not have enough minerals so
miners do not think it is valuable enough to use), which has to be dumped, creating more
trash. Solution mining, on the other hand, is less invasive and has minimal damage. The
second reason for solution mining being better is that it is much safer, as it requires little
human interaction. Traditional mining requires you to actually go underground, which can
lead to things like cave-ins (the mine collapsing on you, which is actually a very high risk
thing as traditional mining creates subsidence, as explained above), or gas explosions. In
Iran, in 2024, there was a massive mine explosion that killed 51 people, showing how
dangerous it can be to work in a traditional coal mine. The final reason that solution mining is
better is that it is much more cost effective, as it does not require as much expensive
infrastructure. The average cost to make one tonne of salt using a solution mine is USD
$1000, whilst it requires USD $1400 to make one tonne of salt for a traditional mine. As you
can see, it requires much more money for a traditional mine. Additionally, traditional mines
require much more labour costs.

Section 3 - Salt extraction from seawater

The most common method is the solar evaporation process, which relies on the principle of
crystallization. Solar evaporation is one of the oldest methods used for salt mining, and also
one of the most environmentally friendly techniques. This process relies on the natural
evaporation of water from shallow pools or ponds, known as salt pans or salterns, under the
influence of sunlight and wind. The first step involves collecting seawater, or brine (water
with high concentration of salt) from underground deposits. The collected seawater is
directed into large, shallow ponds or pans. These salt pans are designed to maximize the
surface area exposed to sunlight, facilitating efficient evaporation. As the sun heats the
seawater, water molecules evaporate and leave the salt behind, increasing the concentration
of dissolved salts. The heat energy from the sun, which increases the kinetic energy of water
molecules, which allows them to escape the liquid phase and become vapor. This process is
enhanced in warm climates with low precipitation, where the evaporation rate exceeds the
precipitation rate. This is why many salt ponds are located in the Southern countries, where
temperaturje are extremely high. Wind also plays a crucial role by enhancing evaporation
rates and distributing heat evenly across the pan. As the water becomes supersaturated with
salt, further evaporation leads to the formation of salt crystals. Due to the solution being
supersaturated (it holds more salt than it can hold at equilibrium), evaporation will cause the
salt to precipitate out of the solution as solid crystals. This process is known as
crystallization, where sodium and chloride ions bond to form solid sodium chloride (NaCl)
crystals.

Figure 1: Salt evaporation ponds

NaCl Ionic Bodning

The formation of salt crystals during solar evaporation involves the crystallization of sodium
chloride (NaCl) from a saturated solution. This process is driven by ionic bonding between
sodium (Na+) and cloride (Cl-) ions. Sodium loses an electron to form a positively charged
ion, while chlorine gains an electron to form a negatively charged ion. These ions are
attracted to each other, forming a strong ionic bond.
The resulting crystal structure of NaCl is a lattice strcuture (as seen in Figure 2). This
structure is highly symmetrical and contributes to the stability of the crystal.

Figure 2: Lattice structure:​

Section 4 - The human body and salt

In the human body, salt plays an extremely important role. The average adult human has
250 grams of sodium in their body, which is roughly equivalent to 275 grams of salt. This is
because sodium constitutes about 40% of salt by weight. Most of the body’s sodium is found
in the extracellular fluid (ECF), which is the fluid that surrounds the cells and accounts for
around 33% of the human body’s water couunt. In the ECF, it maintains a concentration of
135–145 mmol/L, crucial for fluid balance and blood presssure regulation. In salt, which is
consisted of sodium and chloride, which are both essential electrolytes, facilitate numerous
bodily functions. Sodium helps regulate fluid balance, supports muscle contraction, and
enables nerve impulse transmission, which is vital for maintaining proper muscle and nerve
function. Chloride, on the other hand, is essential for digestion as a component of
hydrochloric acid in the stomach and aids in maintaining acid-base balance.

Section 5 - Salt facts

Soluble - Capable of being dissolved in a liquid, usually water

Insoluble - Incapable of being dissolved in a liquid and especially water

Table 1: Table of salts and their colours

Salt Hydrated colour Dehydrated colour

Copper sulphate Blue White

Cobalt chloride Pink/deep purple Pale blue

 Copper chloride Blue green Yellowish-brown

Potassium dichromate Orange Orange

Ferrous sulphate Green Light yellow

Nickel chloride Green Yellow

How to identify soluble vs insoluble salts

Determining the solubility of a salt can often be done by examining its chemical formula.
Generally, salts containing Group I elements (like Na+, K+) and those with chloride (Cl-),
bromide (Br-), or iodide (I-) ions are soluble. Additionally, salts derived from strong acids and
bases are typically soluble. For example, sodium chloride (NaCl) is soluble because it is
derived from a strong acid (HCl) and a strong base (NaOH). The presence of hydrogen ions
(H+) from acids and hydroxide ions (OH-) from bases in the chemical formula can indicate
solubility. However, certain exceptions exist, such as salts of silver and lead, which are often
insoluble due to their low solubility product constants.

Section 6 - Water of crystallization

Water of crystallization is the water that becomes part of a compound's crystal structure
when it forms from a solution. These water mlecules are chemically attached to the
compound and affect its color and how well it dissolves. Compounds that contain water of
crystallization are called hydrated salts. For example, hydrated copper sulphate is written as
CuSO₄·5H₂O, meaning it has five water molecules for each unit of copper sulfate. hydrated
cobalt cloride is CoCl2·6H2O. On the other hand, anhydrous salts do not contain any water,
like CuSO4 and CoCl2.

The conversion between hydrated and anhydrous forms can be done by heating or adding
water. For instance, when you heat hydrated copper sulphate, it releases water and
becomes anhydrous copper sulhate, which is white. Adding water back to the anhydrous
form will restore the hydrated form, which is blue. This is an exothermic reaction. This
process is important because it affects the salt's appearance and behavior. For example,
hydrated copper sulphate is blue, while its anhydrous form is white. Cobalt chloride also
changes color when it loses water, turning from pink to blue.

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