Evaporation Rate, Meteorological And Physical Condition Of Salt Crystallizer Pond In Pamekasan, Indonesia

Abstract

Salt is a strategic commodity that is no less important than other basic needs, this is because salt is an industrial raw material and foodstuffs including for households, the food industry, the CAP industry, pharmaceuticals and petroleum.. The main sources of salt are sea water, rock salt (NaCl mineral halite), and salt lake water. Evaporating sea water is the common method that used to produce salt in Indonesia. Therefore by using the seawater evaporation method, the weather and physical factors of the salt pond will affect salt production. This research purpose to determine evaporation rate, meteoroogical and physical condition of salt cristalizer pond. Measurement of relative humidity, wind speed, brine consentration, temperature (air, soil, and brine), and brine volume were conducted at three salt crystallizer ponds. This parameters were meassured every six hours. The meassurement started from brine entering the salt crystallizer pond until salt harvesting. The result showed that salt could be produce even though the humidity and wind speed in this area were out of the standart criteria recomended (<50% humidity and >5 m/s for wind speed). in addition, the soil temperature is several times higher than the temperature of water and air because the soil is able to withstand the absorbed heat. The highest evaporation of brine in crystallizer pond occurs at 7 am to 7 pm.