So, Moseley says some companies are at least poking around with more out-there technologies, like zinc-air, sodium nickel chloride, and other exotic chemistries.

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The solution (pun intended) involved tacking sodium dithionite and hydro-chloride onto the antibiotic, making it into a water-soluble salt. (Drugs prepared as hydrochlorides are commonplace.) To keep the chemicals from oxidizing, Adams tested 50 different agents, such as citric acid and ascorbic acid, and played with various ratios until he got the right pH balance.

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Nu-Tek Salt has come up with a way to replace salt, or sodium chloride, in food with a proprietary crystal fashioned from potassium chloride and an organic acid. (see photo.) It tastes like salt, behaves like salt in recipes, and has the same texture and feel.

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The remainder will end up in salt ponds where various compounds -- sodium chloride, gypsum, calcium carbonate -- can be extracted and potentially commercialized.

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