Salco Salt is a family owned and run company with warehousing in Miami and Tampa. We stock and sell a variety of salt and we can obtain any kind of salt that you need.

 

Frequently Asked Salt Questions

Q: Are there different types of salt?

A: Salt is salt. It comes from an existing sea or an old sea that has dried up and left the salt deposit.

Q: How pure is salt?

A: Purity of rock salt produced in North America varies depending on the type of salt (evaporated, rock, solar) and on the source. Rock salt typically ranges between 95% and 99% NaCl, and mechanically evaporated salt and solar salt normally exceed 99% NaCl. Evaporated salt made with purified brine has the highest purity, in some cases 99.99% NaCl.

Q: Where does salt come from?

A: Salt mining continues today throughout North America in Kansas, Louisiana, Ohio, New York, Texas, Ontario, New Brunswick (potash and salt), Quebec, and Nova Scotia.

Q: How is sea salt or solar salt produced?

A: Solar salt is produced by the action of sun and wind on seawater or natural brine in lakes. The water evaporates in successive ponds until the brine is fully concentrated and salt crystallizes on the floor of the crystallizing ponds. After the salt "crop" reaches the appropriate thickness, the salt is harvested (usually once a year) with mobile equipment, washed, and placed on stockpile to drain. The principal impurities in solar salt are small amounts of calcium and magnesium sulfate, and magnesium chloride. Clean brine, made by dissolving fine salt, is used to wash the salt to remove small amounts of impurities such as these. Seawater can also be used, but salt losses increase due to dissolution. Depending on the intended use, solar salt may be crushed, screened and dried in kiln or fluidized-bed dryers. Because of its high purity and large crystal size, solar salt is widely used to regenerate water softeners.

Q: How is rock salt produced?

A: Salt occurs naturally in underground deposits, and occasionally in surface deposits in arid areas, as the mineral halite. Ancient salt deposits are widespread. There are ten major salt basins in the western hemisphere. The method of mining is called "room and pillar" because the salt is excavated by blasting and loading out a series of rectangular entries and cross cuts. The method of mining is called "room and pillar" because the salt is excavated by blasting and loading out a series of rectangular entries and cross cuts. On the surface the salt is rescreened to remove fines, bagged, palletized and prepared for shipment to the salt customer.

Q: How is table salt generally produced?

A: Solution mining of salt or halite deposits is just like it sounds. Once the salt deposit is located, fresh and recycled water is injected through a well (or wells) drilled into an underground salt bed or salt dome, usually between 150 and 1,500 meters (500 to 5000 feet) deep. Dissolution of the salt forms a void or cavern in the salt deposit. Salt brine is withdrawn from the cavern and transported by pipeline to an onsite evaporating plant to make dry salt. Table salt is typical of the fine, granulated-evaporated salt produced in vacuum pan evaporators. Virtually all food grade salt sold or used in the United States is produced by vacuum evaporation of brine. Prior to mechanical evaporation, the brine may be treated to remove minerals that can cause scaling in the evaporators and adversely affect salt purity. Chemical treatment of the brine, followed by settling, reduces levels of dissolved calcium, magnesium and sulfate. Sulfuric acid treatment or chlorination may be used to remove hydrogen sulfide, and hydrochloric acid will neutralize brine used in diaphragm cell production of chlorine and caustic soda.

Q: Are pellets better than coarse salt for water softening?

A: First we must ask what type of salt is being used. Coarse salt that is mined as rock salt is the dirtiest and thus is the least quality. Pellets that are made from purified table salt are the cleanest and thus the best quality. Coarse salt derived as solar salt is much cleaner than rock salt, however, there are still some insoluble impurities. Pellets produced from the fines of the solar salt are a lesser desirable quality as they have all of the dirt that has fallen to the bottom with the fines. This product is greatly deceiving given that pellet made from food salt are the best.