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Sodium carbonate
Other names Soda ash Washing soda Soda crystals
Identifiers
CAS number	497-19-8 Y,  5968-11-6 (monohydrate) 6132-02-1 (decahydrate)
PubChem	10340
ChemSpider	9916 Y
UNII	45P3261C7T Y
EC number	207-838-8
ChEBI	CHEBI:29377 Y
ChEMBL	CHEMBL186314 Y
RTECS number	VZ4050000
Jmol-3D images	Image 1
SMILES [Na+].[Na+].[O-]C([O-])=O
InChI InChI=1S/CH2O3.2Na/c2-1(3)4;;/h(H2,2,3,4);;/q;2*+1/p-2 Y Key: CDBYLPFSWZWCQE-UHFFFAOYSA-L Y InChI=1/CH2O3.2Na/c2-1(3)4;;/h(H2,2,3,4);;/q;2*+1/p-2 Key: CDBYLPFSWZWCQE-NUQVWONBAP
Properties
Molecular formula	Na2CO3
Molar mass	105.9784 g/mol (anhydrous) 124.00 g/mol (monohydrate) 286.14 g/mol (decahydrate)
Appearance	White solid, hygroscopic
Odor	Odorless
Density	2.54 g/cm3 (anhydrous) 2.25 g/cm3 (monohydrate) 1.51 g/cm3 (heptahydrate) 1.46 g/cm3 (decahydrate)
Melting point	851 °C (anhydrous)[1] 100 °C (decomp, monohydrate) 33.5 °C (decomp, decahydrate) 32 °C (heptahydrate)
Boiling point	1633 °C (anhydrous)
Solubility in water	7 g/100 mL (0 °C) 21.6 g/100 mL (20 °C)[1] 450 g/L (100 °C)[2]
Solubility	insoluble in ethanol, acetone
Basicity (pKb)	4.67
Refractive index (nD)	1.485 (anhydrous) 1.420 (monohydrate) 1.405 (decahydrate)
Structure
Coordination geometry	trigonal planar
Thermochemistry
Std enthalpy of formation ΔfHo298	−1131 kJ·mol−1[3]
Standard molar entropy So298	136 J·mol−1·K−1[3]
Hazards
MSDS	MSDS
EU Index	011-005-00-2
EU classification	Irritant (Xi)
R-phrases	R36
S-phrases	(S2), S22, S26
NFPA 704	0 1 1
Flash point	Non-flammable
LD50	4090 mg/kg (rat, oral)
Related compounds
Other anions	Sodium bicarbonate
Other cations	Lithium carbonate Potassium carbonate Rubidium carbonate Caesium carbonate
Related compounds	Ammonium carbonate Natron Sodium percarbonate
Y (verify) (what is: Y/N?) Except where noted otherwise, data are given for materials in their standard state (at 25 °C, 100 kPa)
Infobox references

Sodium carbonate (also known as washing soda or soda ash), Na₂CO₃ is a sodium salt of carbonic acid. It most commonly occurs as a crystalline heptahydrate, which readily effloresces to form a white powder, the monohydrate. Sodium carbonate is domestically well known for its everyday use as a water softener. It can be extracted from the ashes of many plants. It is synthetically produced in large quantities from salt (sodium chloride) and limestone in a process known as the Solvay process.

Uses[link]

The manufacture of glass is one of the most important uses of sodium carbonate. When combined with silica and calcium carbonate and heated to high temperatures, then cooled rapidly, glass is produced. This type of glass is known as soda lime glass.

Sodium carbonate is also used as a relatively strong base in various settings. For example, sodium carbonate is used as a pH regulator to maintain stable alkaline conditions necessary for the action of the majority of photographic developing agents.

It is a common additive in municipal pools used to neutralize the acidic effects of chlorine and raise pH.

In cooking, it is sometimes used in place of sodium hydroxide for lyeing, especially with German pretzels and lye rolls. These dishes are treated with a solution of an alkaline substance in order to change the pH of the surface of the food and thus improve browning.

In taxidermy, sodium carbonate added to boiling water will remove flesh from the skull or bones of trophies to create the "European skull mount" or for educational display in biological and historical studies.

In chemistry, it is often used as an electrolyte. This is because electrolytes are usually salt-based, and sodium carbonate acts as a very good conductor in the process of electrolysis. In addition, unlike chloride ions, which form chlorine gas, carbonate ions are not corrosive to the anodes. It is also used as a primary standard for acid-base titrations because it is solid and air-stable, making it easy to weigh accurately.

Domestic use[link]

In domestic use, it is used as a water softener during laundry. It competes with the magnesium and calcium ions in hard water and prevents them from bonding with the detergent being used. Without using washing soda, additional detergent is needed to soak up the magnesium and calcium ions. Called washing soda, soda crystals, or sal soda in the detergent section of stores, it effectively removes oil, grease, and alcohol stains. Sodium carbonate is also used as a descaling agent in boilers such as those found in coffee pots, espresso machines, etc.

In dyeing with fiber-reactive dyes, sodium carbonate (often under a name such as soda ash fixative or soda ash activator) is used to ensure proper chemical bonding of the dye with cellulose (plant) fibers, typically before dyeing (for tie dyes), mixed with the dye (for dye painting), or after dyeing (for immersion dyeing).

Other applications[link]

Sodium carbonate is a food additive (E500) used as an acidity regulator, anti-caking agent, raising agent, and stabilizer. It is one of the components of kansui, a solution of alkaline salts used to give ramen noodles their characteristic flavor and texture. It is also used in the production of snus (Swedish-style snuff) to stabilize the pH of the final product. In Sweden, snus is regulated as a food product because it is put into the mouth, requires pasteurization, and contains only ingredients that are approved as food additives.

Sodium carbonate is also used in the production of sherbet powder. The cooling and fizzing sensation results from the endothermic reaction between sodium carbonate and a weak acid, commonly citric acid, releasing carbon dioxide gas, which occurs when the sherbet is moistened by saliva.

In China, it is used to replace lye-water in the crust of traditional Cantonese moon cakes, and in many other Chinese steamed buns and noodles.

Sodium carbonate is used by the brick industry as a wetting agent to reduce the amount of water needed to extrude the clay.

In casting, it is referred to as "bonding agent" and is used to allow wet alginate to adhere to gelled alginate.

Sodium carbonate is used in toothpastes, where it acts as a foaming agent and an abrasive, and to temporarily increase mouth pH.

Sodium carbonate is used to create the photo process known as reticulation.

Sodium carbonate, in a solution with common salt, may be used for cleaning silver. In a non-reactive container (glass, plastic or ceramic) aluminium foil and the silver object are immersed in the hot salt solution. The elevated pH dissolves the aluminium oxide layer on the foil and enables an electrolytic cell to be established . Hydrogen ions produced by this reaction reduce the sulphide ions on the silver restoring silver metal. The sulphide can be released as small amounts of hydrogen sulphide. Rinsing and gently polishing the silver restores a highly polished condition. ^[4]

Hazards[link]

According to the MSDS, Sodium Carbonate could cause the following hazards:

• Potential Acute Health Effects: Hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of inhalation (lung irritant).
• Potential Chronic Health Effects: Slightly hazardous in case of skin contact (sensitizer). The substance may be toxic to upper respiratory tract, skin, eyes. Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organ damage.

Occurrence[link]

Sodium carbonate crystallizes from water to form three different hydrates:

1. sodium carbonate decahydrate (natron)
2. sodium carbonate heptahydrate (not known in mineral form)
3. sodium carbonate monohydrate (mineral thermonatrite).

Sodium carbonate is soluble in water, but can occur naturally in arid regions, especially in mineral deposits (evaporites) formed when seasonal lakes evaporate. Deposits of the mineral natron have been mined from dry lake bottoms in Egypt since ancient times, when natron was used in the preparation of mummies and in the early manufacture of glass.

The anhydrous mineral form of sodium carbonate is quite rare and called natrite. Sodium carbonate also erupts from Ol Doinyo Lengai, Tanzania's unique volcano, and it is presumed erupted from other volcanoes in the past but, due to these minerals' instability at the earth's surface, are likely to be eroded. All three mineralogical forms of sodium carbonate, as well as trona, trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate, are also known from ultra-alkaline pegmatitic rocks, that occur for example in the Kola Peninsula in Russia.

Production[link]

Mining[link]

Trona, trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate (Na₃HCO₃CO₃·2H₂O), is mined in several areas of the United States and provides nearly all the domestic sodium carbonate. Large natural deposits found in 1938, such as the one near Green River, Wyoming, have made mining more economical than industrial production in North America. There are important reserves of Trona in Turkey. 2 million tons of soda ash produced from the reserves near Ankara. It is also mined from some alkaline lakes such as Lake Magadi in Kenya by dredging. Hot saline springs continuously replenish salt in the lake so that, provided the rate of dredging is no greater than the replenishment rate, the source is fully sustainable.

Barilla and kelp[link]

Several "halophyte" (salt-tolerant) plant species and seaweed species can be processed to yield an impure form of sodium carbonate, and these sources predominated in Europe and elsewhere until the early 19th century. The land plants (typically glassworts or saltworts) or the seaweed (typically Fucus species) were harvested, dried, and burned. The ashes were then "lixiviated" (washed with water) to form an alkali solution. This solution was boiled dry to create the final product, which was termed "soda ash"; this very old name refers to the archetypal plant source for soda ash, which was the small annual shrub Salsola soda ("barilla plant").

The sodium carbonate concentration in soda ash varied very widely, from 2–3 percent for the seaweed-derived form ("kelp"), to 30 percent for the best barilla produced from saltwort plants in Spain. Plant and seaweed sources for soda ash, and also for the related alkali "potash", became increasingly inadequate by the end of the 18th century, and the search for commercially-viable routes to synthesizing soda ash from salt and other chemicals intensified.^[5]

Leblanc process[link]

In 1791, the French chemist Nicolas Leblanc patented a process for producing sodium carbonate from salt, sulfuric acid, limestone, and coal. First, sea salt (sodium chloride) was boiled in sulfuric acid to yield sodium sulfate and hydrogen chloride gas, according to the chemical equation

2 NaCl + H₂SO₄ → Na₂SO₄ + 2 HCl

Next, the sodium sulfate was blended with crushed limestone (calcium carbonate) and coal, and the mixture was burnt, producing calcium sulfide.

Na₂SO₄ + CaCO₃ + 2 C → Na₂CO₃ + 2 CO₂ + CaS

The sodium carbonate was extracted from the ashes with water, and then collected by allowing the water to evaporate.

The hydrochloric acid produced by the Leblanc process was a major source of air pollution, and the calcium sulfide byproduct also presented waste disposal issues. However, it remained the major production method for sodium carbonate until the late 1880s.^[5][6]

Solvay process[link]

In 1861, the Belgian industrial chemist Ernest Solvay developed a method to convert sodium chloride to sodium carbonate using ammonia. The Solvay process centered around a large hollow tower. At the bottom, calcium carbonate (limestone) was heated to release carbon dioxide:

CaCO₃ → CaO + CO₂

At the top, a concentrated solution of sodium chloride and ammonia entered the tower. As the carbon dioxide bubbled up through it, sodium bicarbonate precipitated:

NaCl + NH₃ + CO₂ + H₂O → NaHCO₃ + NH₄Cl

The sodium bicarbonate was then converted to sodium carbonate by heating it, releasing water and carbon dioxide:

2 NaHCO₃ → Na₂CO₃ + H₂O + CO₂

Meanwhile, the ammonia was regenerated from the ammonium chloride byproduct by treating it with the lime (calcium hydroxide) left over from carbon dioxide generation:

CaO + H₂O → Ca(OH)₂

Ca(OH)₂ + 2 NH₄Cl → CaCl₂ + 2 NH₃ + 2 H₂O

Because the Solvay process recycles its ammonia, it consumes only brine and limestone, and has calcium chloride as its only waste product. This made it substantially more economical than the Leblanc process, and it soon came to dominate world sodium carbonate production. By 1900, 90% of sodium carbonate was produced by the Solvay process, and the last Leblanc process plant closed in the early 1920s.

Hou's process[link]

Developed by Chinese chemist Hou Debang in 1930s, the first few steps are the same as the Solvay process. However, instead of treating the remaining solution with lime, carbon dioxide and ammonia are pumped into the solution, then sodium chloride is added until the solution saturates at 40 °C. Next, the solution is cooled to 10 °C. Ammonium chloride precipitates and is removed by filtration, and the solution is recycled to produce more sodium carbonate. Hou's process eliminates the production of calcium chloride and the byproduct ammonium chloride can be refined or used as a fertilizer.

Soda process[link]

(a subpart of the Solvay process) Sodium Bicarbonate is readily available as Baking Soda. Heating it releases water and carbon dioxide:

2NaHCO₃(s) → Na₂CO₃ + H₂O + CO₂

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sodium carbonate

• American Natural Soda Ash Company
• International Chemical Safety Card 1135
• FMC Wyoming Corporation
• Use of sodium carbonate in dyeing