Talk:Alberger process

What is mechanical evaporation?

• Thermal E. : Heating a container of the brine to drive off the water.
  
• Vacuum E. : Pumping the air out of a sealed container of the brine, allows the water to evaporate more quickly at near room temperature.
  
• Mechanical E. : ? Perhaps it is mote formation by evaporation of mechanically formed droplets? (See Cyclic Salt)
  Wikidity (talk) 22:42, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

None of this is really secret. I've been working on a rewrite of this article. Three sources come to mind:

• Alberger® Brand Flake Salts Cargill
• The Diamond Crystal Salt company began in 1886. That's when John and Louis Alberger, together with Charles Moore and Horace Williams patented a new process for making salt in St. Clair, MI. This Alberger® salt process made it possible to create unique-shaped crystals with numerous facets. The result was an amazing salt with extraordinary adherence, blendability and flavor. Diamond Crystal® Salt... A rich heritage since 1886.
• title=Why do some recipes recommend Kosher salt? work=Seasoned Advice

Hope that helps. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 23:02, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Those sources all contain good information but I do not find any of them presenting an explanation of what mechanical evaporation is. I am also curious as to what this process is which makes strangely shaped hollow salt, and would love to see a good source. Blue Rasberry (talk) 10:45, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

The article might have be wrong about the shape. In one of the photos in the sources, they claim it is "pyramidal" (and stepped) and "flaked" and there is a photograph to that effect. The Cargill plant dries and mechanically manipulates the salt as a part of their unique process, which dates back over a century. How they do that may be considered proprietary, so I won't go into it further. Having seen the operation, that's as far as I am willing to go. I assume that there is more in the patent application, which could be considered to be a good source. 7&6=thirteen (☎) 11:45, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Bulletins, United Sates Bureau of Mines, Alberger Process 7&6=thirteen (☎) 11:57, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

Mechanical Evaporation is also referred to as https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor-compression_evaporation This is also a similar physical process used in Air Conditioners and modern Refrigerators for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor-compression_refrigeration - It has been too long since my school days to define the "physical" in this case with accuracy. But if I recall somewhat all of these processes involve heat, however, in these cases we are also needing energy/work from a compressor to do the actual concentration {crystallization or chilling}. Hope this helps. 80.5.219.60 (talk) 18:26, 22 January 2016 (UTC)