User:Rwalter00/sandbox

Article Evaluation

Overall, the article Bittern (salt) is very cut-and-dry. Everything in the article is relevant to the subject. The article is adequately linked to other Wikipedia pages, and it has very little jargon. It is also in a very neutral tone, with no wording to suggest bias. I wasn't specifically distracted by any specific part of the article, but the lack of follow-up information for each sentence did pull my attention away from the article, especially in the "Uses" section, where further explanation into each of the uses is probably necessary. Other uses for bittern may also exist and should be added to this section with a brief description about each use. Any others who have studied bittern or used it in their studies could be mentioned in the "History" section along with a short description of how the bittern was used or what they were testing for. Any more information regarding the origin of bittern as well as the origin of its name should probably be included in the introductory section. With this could be information about general regions or locations where bittern is produced (if such information exists). An image would also be a good addition.

This article is quite short, and every sentence does carry meaning. That being said, some wording, especially in the "Environmental Impact" section is not exact, and it doesn't appear to be fully cited either. Sentences regarding the origin of the word "bittern" and it's use in fertilizer also appear to be misplaced within the article.

Evaluating Sources

Of the five sources available, two of the links were broken. One source linked back to a non-peer-reviewed website about making tofu that, while supporting the sentence it was cited for, is most likely not a reasonable source of information for this page. Most concerning, though, was the entry for bittern in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. While a reasonable source for data, it still is not peer-reviewed. The article itself is a stub, and upon reading it, I discovered that the entire introductory section of the Wikipedia article was a *very* close paraphrase of the article in Encyclopaedia Britannica. Sourcing and state of the articles aside, none appeared to be biased, which is good.

Evaluating the Talk Page

The article appears to be classified as a stub, although there is no tag on the talk page specifically saying that it is. If this assignment counts as a project, then that is the only project under which this page is listed. The two topics of conversation on the Talk page refer to further clarification about the use of bittern/Nigari in tofu production as well as some proposed edits for the introductory section that weren't ever cleared or published. The suggested edits are reasonable, and if they don't conflict with necessary edits to remove close paraphrasing in that section, they should be implemented.

Potential Sources to Add

Ahmad, Nadeem; Baddour, Raouf E. (2014). "A review of sources, effects, disposal methods, and regulations of brine into marine environments". Ocean and Coastal Management. 87:1-7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2013.10.020

Alamdari, A.; Rahimpour, M. R.; Esfandiari, N.' Nourafkan, E. (2008). "Kinetics of magnesium hydroxide precipitation from sea bittern". Chemical Engineering and Processing: Process Intensification. 47(2): 215- 221. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cep.2007.02.012

Albuquerque, L. F.; Salgueiro, A. A.; de S. Melo, J. L.; Chiavone-Filho, O. (2013). "Coagulation of indigo blue present in dyeing wastewater using a residual bittern". Separation and Purification Technology. 104: 246-249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2012.12.005

Kishimoto, Yoshimi et al. (2010). "Effects of magnesium on postprandial serum lipid responses in healthy human subjects." British Journal of Nutrition. 103: 469-472. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114509992716

Kumar, Ramesh; Pal, Parimal (2015). "Assessing the feasibility of N and P recovery by struvite precipitation from nutrient-rich wastewater: a review". Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 22(22): 17453-17464. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5450-2

Lee, S. I.; Weon, S. Y.; Lee, C. W.; Koopman, B. (2003). "Removal of nitrogen and phosphate from wastewater by addition of bittern". Chemosphere. 51(4): 265-271. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0045-6535(02)00807-X

Li, Jinlong; Cheng, Yongquiang; Tatsumi, Eizo; Saito, Masayoshi; Yin, Lijun (2013). "The use of W/O/W controlled-release coagulants to improve the quality of bittern-solidified tofu". Food Hydrocolloids. 35: 627-635. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodhyd.2013.08.002

Li, X. Z.; Zhao, Q. L. (2002). "MAP Precipitation from Landfill Leachate and Seawater Bittern Waste". Environmental Technology. 23(9): 989-1000. https://doi.org/10.1080/09593332308618348

Lozano, José A. Fernández (1976). "Recovery of potassium magnesium sulfate double salt from seawater bittern." Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Process Design and development. 15(3): 445-449. :https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/i260059a018

Mondal, Dibyendu et al. (2015). "Four-fold concentration of sucrose in sugarcane juice through energy efficient forward osmosis using sea bittern as a draw solution." RSC Advances. 23: 17872-17878. https://doi.org/10.1039/C5RA00617A

Oren, Aharon (2019). "Chapter 3: Solar salterns as model systems for the study of halophilic microorganisms in their natural environments". Model Systems in Extreme Environments. 41-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-812742-1.00003-9

Wenter, I. Gede; Ariono, Danu; Purwasasmita, Mubiar; Khoirudin (2017). "Integrated processes for desalination and salt production: A mini-review". AIP Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4976929

Draft Your Contribution

[Introductory section]

Bittern (pl. bitterns), or nigari, is the salt solution formed when halite (table salt) precipitates from seawater or brines. Bitterns contain magnesium, calcium, and potassium ions as well as chloride, sulfate, iodide, and other ions.

Bittern is commonly formed in salt ponds where the evaporation of water prompts the precipitation of halite. These salt ponds can be part of a salt-producing industry setup, or they can be used as a waste storage location for brines produced in desalination processes.

Bittern is a source of many useful salts. It is used as a natural source of Mg²⁺, and it can be used as a coagulant both in the production of tofu and in the treatment of industrial wastewater.

[Uses]

Salt Derivation

Bittern is a source of many salts including magnesium sulfate (epsom salt). Multiple methods exist for removing these salts from the bittern, and the method ultimately used depends on the target product. Products that would naturally precipitate from the bitterns crystallize as evaporation proceeds. Products that do not preferentially precipitate from bitterns may precipitate through the addition of another compound or through ion exchange.

Potassium-magnesium double sulfate, a good fertilizer, is a salt that precipitates from bitterns upon addition of methanol. Ethanol is also used, but it exhibits a preference for potassium sulfate precipitation.

The solution can furthermore be used in the production of potash and other potassium salts. Tartaric acid is one compound that can facilitate the precipitation of these salts.

Magnesium hydroxide (Mg(OH)₂) can be derived from bittern. Adding an alkaline solution such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or lime will cause magnesium hydroxide to precipitate, although lime is not as effective. Slower addition of the alkaline solution results in the precipitation of larger particles that are easier to remove from solution.

Coagulation

Tofu

Bittern (nigari) was the first coagulant used to make tofu. It is still used today because tofu made using bittern preserves the original flavor of the soybeans used to make it. Although bittern causes too-rapid coagulation of tofu that decreases the overall quality of tofu, different methods of tofu production utilizing bittern have been developed to work around this issue.

Wastewater Treatment

Bittern can be used instead of aluminum-based coagulants in the treatment of wastewater produced during the fabric-dyeing process. The wastewater pH is basic, which is favorable for the use of bittern. After the addition of bittern, precipitated magnesium hydroxide works as the coagulant to collect dye, solids, organic matter, and heavy metals from the wastewater before settling out of solution. The sludge produced from this wastewater treatment is also easier to dispose of than that produced by aluminum-based coagulants because there are less restrictions surrounding the disposal of magnesium, and it may be possible to recycle the sludge as fertilizer.

Bittern can also be used as a source of magnesium ions (Mg²⁺) for the precipitation of struvite, a useful fertilizer, from wastewater containing nitrogen and phosphorous. Bittern is just as good as other sources of magnesium ions at removing phosphorous from wastewater streams, but it lags behind other magnesium ion sources in terms of the removal of ammonia (a nitrogen compound).

Other Uses

Bittern can be used to culture Haloquadratum archaea. Haloquadratum are distinctly square-shaped and are abundant in hypersaline environments such as salt ponds. Their cultivation is necessary for understanding both their ecological function in those environments as well as their unique morphology. The presence of Haloquadratum in an environment deemed inhospitable for most life has prompted closer study of these archaea.

A study has been performed exploring the use of bittern as a natural magnesium supplement used to decrease cholesterol spikes after a meal.

Due to its high salinity, bittern can also be used as a draw solution for an osmotic process that concentrates sucrose in sugarcane juice. Because forward osmosis is being used, the process is relatively energy-efficient. Epsom salt can also be taken from the draw solution once it is used. This method is particularly useful in areas where sugarcane and salt production are in close proximity to avoid costs associated with movement of either the sugarcane juice or the bittern.

[Environmental impact]

Most bitterns are used for other production instead of being directly discarded.

Although bittern generally contains the same compounds as seawater, it is much more concentrated than seawater. If bittern is released directly into seawater, the ensuing salinity increase may harm marine life around the point of release. Even small increases in salinity can disrupt marine species' osmotic balances, which may result in the death of the organism in some cases.