Industrial Salt

Description

In the oil industry, salt is used to increase the density of mud and soil, which creates a more safe and efficient drilling rig. Although salt may not be used extensively in off-shore drilling, enormous amounts of salt are required to facilitate drilling on land. Pharmaceutical companies also use salt in the process of making capsules, as well as the production of saline solutions, which have widespread secondary uses. Saline solutions are not only useful for contact solution, but also for intravenous formulas. Salt use by the medical and pharmaceutical companies accounts for a large percentage of the total national industrial salt usage.

Of course, the majority of the world\'s industrial salt is used to deice roads and to create a safer driving surface, not only for the public, but for government use as well. Sixty to eighty percent of globally mined salt is used to improve the safety of public transit in one capacity or another, but usually to decrease the freezing point of snow and ice.

Salt is often spread on roads prior to inclement weather, allowing a surface layer of brine to provide further protection against ice.