salt cake

noun

Chemistry.

1. an impure form of sodium sulfate, especially as obtained by the interaction of sulfuric acid and common salt in the synthesis of hydrochloric acid: used chiefly in the manufacture of glass, ceramic glazes, soaps, and sodium salts.

salt cake

noun

1. an impure form of sodium sulphate obtained as a by-product in several industrial processes: used in the manufacture of detergents, glass, and ceramic glazes

Word History and Origins

Origin of salt cake¹

First recorded in 1695–1705

Example Sentences

The rule affects the most challenging and expensive part of the Hanford cleanup — some 56 million gallons of waste, a mix of liquids, sludges and a moist sandlike material called salt cake — that have been stored in aging tanks, some of which are leaking.

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The outcome is a dry “salt cake” that can be disposed of at a hazardous waste dump.

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Cooling water will be distilled to remove minerals and other contaminants, leaving behind a “salt cake” that will be contained and disposed in a landfill.

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It’s very difficult to get a representative sample from any given tank because the waste has settled into layers, starting with a baked-on “hard heal” at the bottom, a layer of salt cake above that, a layer of gooey sludge, then fluid, and finally gases in the headspace between the fluid and the ceiling.

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Most of the radioactivity is in the solids and sludge whereas most of the volume is in the liquids and the salt cake.

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