Luhut: Eliminate Industrial-Consume Salt Differences

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Marine Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the government plans to eliminate salt consumption and industrial salt so that national salt production can be used for both.

"We will also eliminate the industry salt with consumption salt, so we will not distinguish it in the future," he said at the Coordinating Ministry for Home Affairs, Monday (8/14/2017)

Luhut said it is in line with the plan for the development and improvement of salt productivity. He said Indonesia has 22,000 land that can be utilized for national salt production.

Unfortunately, although some have been produced, the quality of salt produced is not optimal because of the use of poor technology.

Currently the salt production system in Indonesia uses evaporation system, ie sea water is flowed into the pond and then the water is allowed to evaporate, after a while the remaining salt will settle at the bottom of the pond.

Systems that rely heavily on these weather factors, making salt productivity erratic so that often occur scarcity during the rainy season.

"We have already invested, we have 22,000 hectares of land that can be planted for salt, that salt is partly made, but does not use good technology so the quality may be only 80 percent, it should be 94-97 percent," he said.

With no distinguished, the private sector will be invited to participate in producing salt.

"Private also, if we can get good water (sea) in a good way, we can also make 97 percent of it.No problem," he said.

Director General of Chemical, Textile, and Multifarious Industries Ministry of Industry, Achmad Sigit Dwiwahjono, said that the production of salt consumption and industrial salt is the same because the raw materials are still the same, namely salt.

The fundamental difference between consumption salt and industrial salt is sodium chloride or NaCl. Industrial salts should have a content of up to 97.4 percent NaCl or very low water content, while consumption salts have a NaCl content below 97 percent.

"In fact, the salt industry and consumption are the same, the raw material is the best salt quality possible, if we make salt 97 percent why not? In NTT possible plus standard technology like in Australia, can," he said as quoted by Antara.

The private sector is also very potential to enter in the field. Salt raw materials can be utilized in various industries, ranging from the paper industry, food, beverages, textiles, to livestock, as well as tannery.