Industrial microbiology of solar salt production
Solar salterns can be modeled as giant outdoor chemostats, much like a series of dams on a slow-moving river.
Microorganisms and their products play an essential, but sometimes uncharacterized, role in salt production in these
ponds, from seawater salinity up through NaCl saturation. They may physically affect the evaporation process and
their by-products may chemically modify or bind with dissolved ions. Many solar salt facilities engage
microbiologists to establish monitoring programs for analyses of nutrients, standing crop and associated biological
variables in the ponds. Other solar salt companies engage microbiologists only when there are ‘‘crises’’ in the ponds
that interfere with salt production.