01/10/2026
"Chemistry Students Put Enga's Traditional
Salt to the Test"
Samples from the Yokonda Salt Pond feed two laboratory analyses in
Environmental Chemistry
Wabag, Enga Province | 28 September 2026
On 9 August 2026, six Year 4 Chemistry students in Environmental Chemistry (SCH442) travelled to the Yokonda Salt Pond in the Pilikambi LLG of Laiagam District to collect traditionally made Enga salt and bring it back to the IUE laboratory for analysis. The trip was led by Dr. Hefa Kemung, Associate Professor of Chemistry, with Mr. Eddie Maxson.
A Traditional Process, Seen First-Hand
The Yokonda people have produced salt from the pond for generations, long before commercial salt reached Papua New Guinea. Community members demonstrated the process for the students: lengths of wood are left to soak in the saline pond, then dried and burned, and the salt-laden ash is collected and processed into the grey salt sold in packets at the site. Each student wrote a field report on the method, which was assessed as
the course's first assignment.
From the Pond to the Lab
Purification:
Back at Irelya, students dissolved weighed portions of the salt, removed the dirt and insoluble matter, and carried out a series of reactions to remove the other salts present, leaving a sodium chloride (NaCl) solution. This was evaporated to dryness, and the recovered salt was weighed to calculate percent yield.
Analysis:
Students then measured the NaCl content of 1 g of their purified salt using Mohr’s method, a classic
argentometric titration. The sample is titrated with silver nitrate of known concentration, using potassium
chromate as the indicator. Silver chloride precipitates first; once all the chloride has reacted, the next drop of
silver forms red-brown silver chromate, and the solution turns from yellow to orange-red. From the volume of
titrant used, students calculated how much of each gram of Enga salt is sodium chloride.
Read More 👉
https://www.iue.ac.pg/chemistry-students-put-engas-traditionalsalt-to-the-test/
