Influence of Heat Treatment on the Physicochemical Property and Mineral Composition of Various Processed Salts

The effects of heat treatment on the physicochemical properties and mineral composition of sun-dried salt were investigated. The salts parched at high temperature were appeared the higher alkalinity and the lower oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) than the samples without heat treatment. The commercial salts (bamboo salt and yellow loess salt) and the sun-dried salt parched at high temperature had relatively higher sodium ion content (418-450 ppm) compared to that (418.0 ppm) of refined salt. The increase of calcium ion occurred in the salts parched at high temperature compared to the sun-dried salt without heat treatment, but the magnesium ion was vice versa. The commercial salt, yellow loess salt had highest turbidity (0.973) whereas sun-dried salt showed lowest level (0.097) among the tested samples. Turbidity of heat treatment samples decreased as solubility increased. The maximum concentration of dialyzed salt was reached after 4 hr regardless of various processed salts, but those had no difference significantly among the tested samples. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the parched sun-dried salts showed different peak intensity with common salts, and they were similar to the patterns of oxide salts, especially MgO. The maximum value (2.56%) of MgO appeared in the sun-dried salt parched at $1,400^{\circ}C$.