Overall, the strongest crystaline structure for the elements making up the
Bonneville salt flats is pure sodium chloride -NaCl. The next strongest
structure would be potassium chloride - KCl - which has a similar structure
to NaCl and is of about the same strength when pure.
The analysis we did in Sept 93 after the excess water came back across I80
from the Reilly ponds onto the salt flats was as follows:
GOOD SALT
Element Percentage
Na 18.74
Cl 68.09
K 2.71
Ca 1.38
S 1.28
Mg 7.80
BAD SALT
Element Percentage
Na 28.73
Cl 65.10
K 4.63
Ca 0.82
S 0.56
Mg 0.16
The good salt would take multiple hard, spinning starts without breaking
down and would have black marks from the tires on it. The bad salt would
just break up in a grandular condition after just a few starts. The higher
levels of potassium and magnesium show that it came from Reilly's 2nd and
3rd level evaporation ponds where the NaCl levels had already been reduced
significantly.
Their primary products are potash and Mag Chloride. Potash is primarily
potassium salts primarily for the potassium oxide and comes in the form of
potassium chloride, potassium sulfate, and other potassium/magnesium
coupounds. It is the pure white powder piled around Reilly's plant. The
MgCl is produced as a liquid rather than a solid. Overall, I would estimate
that the salt quality we ran on in 2001 was around 95 to 97 percent pure
NaCl and KCl salt because of its toughness and durability. There is no
evidence that the other elements present do anything to help bond the Na and
Cl molecules together. There is a lot of evidence to show that small
amounts of Mg prevents the NaCl and KCl from bonding together in strong
crystalline structures.
Gary Allen
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