The Physical and Chemical Properties of Salt Manufactured by New Process with Brine Produced in Korean Salt-farms

염전의 함수로 제조한 천일식제조소금의 물리화학적 특성

Solar salt is manufactured naturally, and therefore, it contains insoluble substances such as sandy compounds. This study is performed in order to effectively produce clean sea salt by removing the impurities in sea salt through filtration and evaporation in a vacuum condition. Brine was concentrated and crystallized at $90^{\circ}C$ by a rotary vacuum evaporator, which was then recovered as salt crystals by filtration, and then the salt was dehydrated. Manufacturing yields were determined by the amount of water evaporation. Brine was concentrated to 40%, 50% and 60% of the initial volume of brine and manufactured salt were designated as 40S, 50S and 60S, respectively. The salt produced by this process is called ESBS (evaporated salt with brine from salt-farm). The yield of 40S, 50S and 60S were 7.22%, 10.79% and 15.06%, respectively. The NaCl concentration of 40S and 50S were 90.38% and 91.16%, respectively. From a sensory evaluation analysis, the most tasty salt was 40S and the bitter salt was 60S. The average contents of sand compound and insoluble substances in ESBS were 0.001~0.012% and 0.067~0.12%, respectively. The mineral compositions, such as Na, Mg, K, and Ca of 40S and 50S were similar with those of the natural solar salt. In solubility tests, the solubility (g of salt/100 mL $H_2O$/sec) of 40S, 50S, and 60S was 0.69, 0.70, and 0.69, respectively. On the other hand, the solubility of natural solar salt was 0.47. By comparing the water reabsorption rate analysis results, water reabsorption rate of 40S and 50S was about 3 to 5 times lower than that of the solar salt. In the aspects of physical and chemical properties, such as minerals, impurities, solubility and moisture re-absorption rate, salts developed in this study are judged to be better than that of the general solar salt.

천일염은 자연 환경에서 제조되기 때문에 불용분 사분과 같은 이물이 함유될 가능성이 있다. 본 연구는 여과와 증발을 통하여 소금의 불순물 등 이물질을 효율적으로 제거하면서도 미네랄이 풍부한 소금을 생산하기 위해 수행되었다. 함수를 여과한 후 $90^{\circ}C$에서 회전식진공농축기를 이용하여 소금결정을 제조한 후에 탈수하였다. 이렇게 제조된 소금을 천일식제조소금이라 명명하였다. 소금의 수율은 물의 증발량에 의해 결정되는데, 증발량이 40%, 50%, 60%일 때 각각 40S, 50S, 60S로 표기하였다. 천일식제조소금의 수율은 40S, 50S, 60S가 각각 7.22%, 10.79%, 15.06%로 일반 천일염의 제조 수율인 4~8%보다 유사하거나 높았다. 천일식제조소금의 염도는 40S, 50S, 60S가 각각 90.38%, 91.16%, 68.16%를 나타냈다. 관능검사 결과 전체기호도가 가장 높은 소금은 40S이며, 쓴맛이 강함 소금은 60S를 나타냈다. Na, Mg, K, Ca의 미네랄 함량은 40S와 50S가 Mg 함량이 낮다는 것을 제외하면 천일염과 유사하였다. 불용분 함량은 천일염이 0.023%로 천일식제조소금보다 높고, 사분분석 함량은 천일염과 40S, 50S는 유의차가 없었다. 용해속도(g of salt/100 mL $H_2O$/sec)는 40S, 50S, 60S가 각각 0.69, 0.70, 0.69로 천일염의 용해속도(0.47)보다 높았고, 상대습도 70%, 저장온도 $20^{\circ}C$에서의 수분 재흡수 속도는 천일식제조소금 40S, 50S가 정제염보다는 빠르지만 천일염보다는 약 3~5배 낮은 결과를 보여주었다. 본 연구에서 개발한 천일식제조소금은 미네랄, 불순물 함량, 용해속도 및 수분 재흡수 등의 물리화학적 특성이 천일염에 비해 우수한 것으로 판단된다.