Halite is the mineral form of sodium chloride. Rock-salt processing must account for feed moisture, impurities, target size and process boundaries created by its solubility.
- Mineral
- Halite (NaCl)
- Critical property
- High water solubility
- Process input
- Moisture, impurities and product particle size
How are rock salt and halite related?
Halite is crystalline sodium chloride, while rock salt describes a natural material dominated by halite. Natural feed may also contain clay, anhydrite, gypsum or other evaporite minerals.
Food, chemical and other grades cannot be defined by particle size alone; chemical purity must be verified separately.
What do crushing and screening control?
Mechanical size reduction converts coarse rock salt into defined product fractions. Screening can separate saleable sizes or control the fraction sent to further grinding.
Because halite can generate fines readily, the crushing stages and any recycle loop are selected around the product-size objective.
Why are moisture and solubility process boundaries?
Free moisture can affect caking, feeding and screen performance. Where drying is considered, heat load and the hygroscopic behaviour of the product are reviewed together.
Washing or dissolution is a different duty from dry mechanical preparation; water balance becomes critical because the mineral is soluble.
Core data required for design
- NaCl and impurity analysis
- Feed moisture
- Feed and target particle size
- Caking tendency
- End-use and purity criteria
