High Temperature Materials and Processes 2023; 42: 20220274
Research Article
Zhigan Deng*, Xing Huang, Chang Wei, Xingbin Li, Minting Li, and Xingguo Luo
Characteristics and purification of Himalayan salt
by high temperature melting
https://doi.org/10.1515/htmp-2022-0274
received November 01, 2022; accepted April 20, 2023
1 Introduction
Abstract: Himalayan rock salt contains a variety of Common salt is a necessity of human life, and NaCl is the
minerals and trace elements, which is conducive to human indispensable material to maintain the normal physiolo-
health. The solutions of black rock salt and rose salt are gical development of human body. At the same time, it is
alkaline, and the content of water insoluble matter is 0.34 also the basic raw material of chemical industry. It is also
and 0.083%, respectively. The element composition of widely used in agriculture and other industries [1,2]. The
water insoluble matter in rock salt is determined and ana- raw material sources of salt can be divided into four cate-
lyzed. It is found that the main component of two kinds of gories: sea salt, lake salt, well salt, and rock salt. Salt
rock salt water insoluble matter is soil. Due to the presence made from seawater is called “sea salt,” salt produced
of water insoluble matter in rock salt, according to the by mining Modern Salt Lake minerals is called “lake
different specific gravity of molten sodium chloride and salt,” that produced by extracting shallow surface or
insoluble matter, rock salt was purified by high-tempera- underground natural brine by shaft sinking is called
ture melting method. Rose salt is mainly studied during
“well salt,” and salt produced by mining ancient rock
purification. The results showed that the content of inso-
salt deposits is called “rock salt.” Because rock salt
luble matter in rose salt decreased from 0.083 to 0.0024%
deposits sometimes coexist with natural brine salt mines,
after holding at 950°C for 40 min; the contents of arsenic,
and the advent of drilling water solution method for
barium, and lead decreased to 0.0032, 0.61, and 0.21 mg·kg−1,
mining rock salt deposits, it is also known as “well
respectively; the content of sodium increased to 39.24%, the
salt” and “rock salt” - well mineral salt, or generally
contents of calcium, magnesium, and iron reached to 2,200,
known as “mineral salt” [3–5].
855, and 1.31 mg·kg−1, respectively.
Himalayan rock salt comes from Kwara, Karabakh, and
Keywords: Himalayan salt, insoluble matter, purification, other mines in about 300 km southwest of the Himalayas
high temperature melting [6,7]. It has a unique pink or black color, while black salt is
less common. Himalayan rock salt is rich in minerals. In
addition to sodium and chlorine, there are other trace ele-
ments such as chromium, iron, and zinc. Therefore, it is not
only used in high-grade dishes, but also often seen in some
families, which is very popular [8,9].
The Himalayan rock salt is characterized by its unique
pinkish and black color. Himalayan black rock salt has
* Corresponding author: Zhigan Deng, Faculty of Metallurgical and cooking and medicinal properties. In the western Himalayas
Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, of India, almost every household uses black rock salt as a folk
Kunming 650093, China; State Key Laboratory of Complex
prescription for gastrointestinal diseases in case of emer-
Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming 650093,
China, e-mail: dengzhigan83@163.com gency. Black rock salt has amazing curative effects not only
Xing Huang, Xingguo Luo: Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy in folk medicine, but also in India’s traditional medical
Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, system. This salt contains various trace and large elements,
Kunming 650093, China such as iron, potassium, and calcium. It is considered to have
Chang Wei, Xingbin Li, Minting Li: Faculty of Metallurgical and
a good effect in fighting heartburn, abdominal distention, and
Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology,
Kunming 650093, China; State Key Laboratory of Complex
flatulence [10–12]. Another salt of Himalayan rock salt is
Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming 650093, called rose salt or pink salt because its color is pink. It is a
China “treasure in salt,” a “salt fossil” formed by the combination of
Open Access. © 2023 the author(s), published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
License.
