Best Sodium Carbonate Manufacturers In India

Hello everyone, and welcome again. Today’s blog will be on industrial chemistry, and this series will focus on the last of the major chemicals we’ll be talking about: sodium carbonate. We will be studying the Solvay process, which is the process used in industry to turn salty water into sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate is the focus of this series. In today’s blog, we will focus on sodium carbonate: what it is, what it is helpful for, and how it is produced. and how you get Best Sodium Carbonate Manufacturers In India.

We need to know what the raw materials of sodium carbonate are.

What raw materials do we need actually to make sodium carbonate? Similar to NaOH, one of the primary raw materials for sodium carbonate is brine, which is just a concentrated NaCl solution. So, there’s our salt. Other chemicals required for the production of sodium carbonate are ammonia, which should remind you of the Haber process, and carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide can be created from the decomposition of calcium carbonate or sourced from breweries, power plants, and other facilities that produce CO2.

So, what are the uses of sodium carbonate?

In industry, it has numerous uses. The manufacture of glass is probably its most extensive use. Sand (silicon dioxide), sodium carbonate, and limestone (calcium carbonate) are mixed and heated to create glass, a mixture of sodium oxide, silicon dioxide, and calcium oxide. Sodium carbonate is also used as a water softener.

Hard water contains calcium or magnesium ions, and carbonate ions from sodium carbonate can precipitate these out as calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate.

Sodium carbonate is also used in papermaking. It is converted to sodium silicate and utilized to stabilize peroxides in bleaching. Additionally, it is used in detergents, again as a water softener.

In pharmaceuticals, it is used to fill out tablet sizes or act as a foaming agent in products like aspirin. Sodium carbonate can also be used to refine aluminium. Finely divided bauxite is fused with sodium carbonate and dissolved to form sodium aluminate, leaving behind Fe2O3 and silicon dioxide impurities.

Let’s review some of the uses of sodium carbonate:

1. Manufacture of glass (soda glass).
2. Water softener.
3. Papermaking to stabilize peroxides.
4. Detergents.
5. Pharmaceuticals as a filler or foaming agent.
6. Refining of aluminium.

Why is sodium carbonate used as a water softener?

Hard water is caused by excess Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺ ions. Adding Na2CO3 (sodium carbonate) to the water precipitates these ions out of the solution as CaCO3 and MgCO3, thus softening the water.

Using appropriate chemical equations, explain why Na2CO3 is added to pool water after chlorination. Chlorination is used to remove bacteria from the water, but it makes the water acidic. Chlorine reacts with water to form HCl and HOCl, which is the actual disinfectant. Adding sodium carbonate increases the pH of the water because it reacts with HCl to form water, CO2, and salt, reducing the acidity.

Are there any other ways to produce Na2CO3 using common compounds?

Yes, sodium carbonate can be made from the absorption of CO2 into NaOH. This method is used in labs to control CO2 concentration. Some researchers are exploring this method to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels. However, large-scale implementation is still challenging.

If the calcium carbonate supply is low, what are other methods to obtain CO2 in sufficient quantities? CO2 from the atmosphere could be more efficient due to its low concentration.

Instead, chemical plants can be located near breweries or power plants, which produce large amounts of CO2. Capturing this CO2 for Na2CO3 production is sustainable. However, power plants are often far from being in demand, requiring transportation of the produced Na2CO3.

This concludes today’s lesson on sodium carbonate. We looked at what sodium carbonate is and its industrial uses. In the following few lessons, we will discuss the Solvay process and how sodium carbonate is produced for industrial use.