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Time:19months ago
Source:Transform the World with Simplicity
Sodium carbonate, also known as soda ash, is a widely used chemical used in the production of many everyday items such as glass, detergent, soap, and paper. Its manufacturing methods are mainly the following:
1. ammonia alkali method (Solvay method)
ammonia alkali method is the earliest production method of sodium carbonate, invented by Belgian chemist Ernest Solvay in 1861. The method uses salt (sodium chloride), limestone (calcium carbonate) and coal as raw materials to obtain sodium carbonate through a series of chemical reactions.
First, salt reacts with ammonia and carbon dioxide to generate sodium bicarbonate, which is then calcined to sodium carbonate. During the reaction, it is necessary to control the temperature and pressure so that the reaction proceeds toward the formation of sodium bicarbonate. After calcination, sodium bicarbonate is decomposed into sodium carbonate, carbon dioxide and water vapor. The advantages of
ammonia-alkali method are that the raw materials are easy to obtain, the product purity is high, but the energy consumption is large, and the waste liquid discharged contains a large amount of calcium chloride, which needs to be treated.
2. Combined alkali making method (Hou's alkali making method)
The combined alkali making method was invented by Chinese chemist Hou Debang in the 1940 s. This method combines the ammonia alkali method with the synthetic ammonia process to realize the recycling of sodium chloride and reduce energy consumption and waste liquid emissions.
This method uses salt, ammonia and carbon dioxide as raw materials to first generate sodium bicarbonate and then calcine to sodium carbonate. At the same time, salt is added to the mother liquor to crystallize ammonium chloride and use it as nitrogen fertilizer. Sodium chloride is returned to the system to achieve the recycling of resources. The advantages of
combined alkali production method are low energy consumption, less waste liquid emissions, and the production of nitrogen fertilizer ammonium chloride, but the equipment investment is large.
3. trona processing method
trona processing method is the use of trona mineral resources to produce sodium carbonate method. Natural alkali ore contains sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate and water and other substances, through mining, crushing, dissolving, filtering, evaporation and other processes, can get pure sodium carbonate.
The advantages of this method are low raw material cost and low energy consumption, but limited by natural resources, the yield is limited.
To sum up, the manufacturing methods of sodium carbonate mainly include ammonia-alkali method, combined alkali making method and natural alkali processing method. Different methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, and the appropriate production method should be selected according to the source of raw materials, energy consumption, environmental protection requirements and other factors. With the continuous development of science and technology, the production process of sodium carbonate is constantly improved and optimized to improve production efficiency, reduce energy consumption and reduce environmental pollution.