On the Revival of a 500-Year-Old Near-Extinct Artisanal Salt-Making: The Asin Tibuok Process and Chemical Engineering Integration Towards Sustainable Production

Asin Tibuok, which literally means “unbroken salt” or “whole salt”, is a Bohol-native gourmet salt that resembles that of a dinosaur egg and has been recently gaining international traction. The process of producing Asin Tibuok, an artisanal salt, is delicate because of the nature of how it is traditionally and meticulously made. It uses eleven (11) steps that take up to 4 months to finish. This is one of the main reasons why new generations of the asinderos have lost interest in the tradition of Asin Tibuok production. This declining interest was worsened during the onslaught of supertyphoon Odette (International name: Typhoon Rai) which damaged most of the facility. Hence, it was imperative to document the traditional and cultural process while also incorporating chemical engineering methods that ensure the continuous production of the salt. This work is comprised of a market study, unit process design, and economic analysis. Through the market study, necessary information on global and local supply and demand of product and raw materials were obtained and reviewed to survey a sustainable market for Asin Tibuok. Equipment sizing and its corresponding streams were modeled to design a plant which has a capacity of 200 units per batch. Lastly, subsequent economic analysis of the optimized design suggests a sustainable and feasible production while preserving the cultural heritage of the Asin Tibuok production.