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The salt industry is set to receive a shot in the arm, should Ghana Water Company’s (GWCL) newly proposed On Site Electro-Chlorination (OSEC) technology in water treatment be adopted and fully implemented.

Research indicates that Ghana has a potential production capacity exceeding two million metric tonnes, but has only managed to produce a maximum of 250,000 to 300,000 metric tonnes, which represents just 10 percent of what nature offers on the coast.

The salt industry has been producing far below its actual potential production, due to little or no attention it has received in past years.

However, with the piloting and subsequent full adoption of the OSEC technology,there would be a substantially high demand for the local product.

For the sustenance of the new technology, the government would have to increase its efforts in local production of salt.

It is estimated that about a total of 50,000 to 100, 000 jobs would be created in the salt value chain.

This OSEC plant, which is set to start full operation after six months of pilot, once approval is received from the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) would use a refined salt component of a specific grade in producing sodium hydrochloride, to disinfect the water.

The project would initially be piloted at GWCL treatment sites, namely – Weija, which treats a total of about 13.8 million gallons per day, and Kpone old works which treats about 8 million gallons per day.

Ostensibly, if the project is replicated in the entire country, Ghana would see a high in demand for salt
For every 1kg of chlorine the plant generates, it needs 3kg of salt. Therefore, a typical plant which uses 20kg of chlorine gas per hour, it will require 60 kg of salt.

The plant which is meant to be in operation for 24hours per day will then require about 1,440 kg of salt component every day.

The plant has the capacity of 40 kg of chlorine gas per hour.
This project is being operated in some Africa countries such as Mali, and Kenya, as well as Burkina Faso which happens to be importing salt from Ghana and later refines it to the specification of the plant.