Integration of Tetraselmis chuii and Artemia sp. Culture in Industrial-Scale Salt Production

Abstract

The common technique of traditional salt production in Indonesia is seawater evaporation technology, which uses sunlight to produce salt crystals from seawater. However, in general, the applied technology only produces salt with about 80% NaCl and water contents >7%, impurities >2%, and other contaminants. This produced salt is not suitable to be used as industrial salt. This study aimed to determine the effects of liquid organic fertilizer Gracilaria sp. addition into the culture media of Tetraselmis chuii on Artemia sp. growth, to identify the profile of length, weight, and survival rate of Artemia sp., and finally attempted to uncover the contribution of Artemia sp. in impurity mineral absorption and NaCl content improvement. The results of the study showed that the density of T. chuii based on the concentration of liquid organic fertilizer Gracilaria sp. was significantly different (p<0.05) in each treatment. T. chuii cultivation using liquid organic fertilizer Gracilaria sp. 16 mg N/mL resulted in the highest density on the culture days. However, the studies showed that there was no significant effect (p>0.05) on the weight and length gain of Artemia sp. The research conducted can support the downstream use of products from engineering research in the field of technology to increase the added value of salt products and be part of the contribution to the achievement of the 14th SDG on life below water.