Sodium carbonate, Na2CO3, (also known as washing soda, soda ash and soda crystals) is the

inorganic compound with the formula Na2CO3 and its various hydrates. All forms are white,
water-soluble salts. All forms have a strongly alkaline taste and give moderately alkaline
solutions in water. Historically it was extracted from the ashes of plants growing in sodium-rich
soils. Because the ashes of these sodium-rich plants were noticeably different from ashes of
wood (once used to produce potash), sodium carbonate became known as "soda ash".[12] It is
produced in large quantities from sodium chloride and limestone by the Solvay process.

Hydrates
Sodium carbonate is obtained as three different hydrates and as the anhydrous salt:

 sodium carbonate decahydrate (natron), Na2CO3·10H2O, which readily effloresces

to form the monohydrate.
 sodium carbonate heptahydrate (not known in mineral form), Na2CO3·7H2O.
 sodium carbonate monohydrate (thermonatrite), Na2CO3·H2O. Also known as
crystal carbonate.
 anhydrous sodium carbonate, also known as calcined soda, is formed by heating the
hydrates. It is also formed when sodium hydrogen carbonate is heated (calcined) e.g.
in the final step of the Solvay process.

The decahydrate is formed from water solutions crystallizing in the temperature range -2.1
to +32.0 C, the heptahydrate in the narrow range 32.0 to 35.4 C and above this
temperature the monohydrate forms.[13] In dry air the decahydrate and heptahydrate lose
water to give the monohydrate. Other hydrates have been reported, e.g. with 2.5 units of
water per sodium carbonate unit ("pentahemihydrate").[14]

Applications
Main applications

In terms of its largest applications, sodium carbonate is used in the manufacture of glass,
paper, rayon, soaps, and detergents.[15]

Glass manufacture

Sodium carbonate serves as a flux for silica, lowering the melting point of the mixture to
something achievable without special materials. This "soda glass" is mildly water-soluble,
so some calcium carbonate is added to the melt mixture to make the glass produced
insoluble. Bottle and window glass (Soda-lime glass) is made by melting such mixtures of
sodium carbonate, calcium carbonate, and silica sand (silicon dioxide (SiO2)). When these
materials are heated, the carbonates release carbon dioxide. In this way, sodium carbonate
is a source of sodium oxide. Soda lime glass has been the most common form of glass for
centuries.

Water softening

Sodium carbonate is used to soften water by removing Mg2+ and Ca2+. These ions form
insoluble solid precipitates upon treatment with carbonate ions:

Ca2+ + CO32- → CaCO3

Sodium carbonate is an inexpensive and water-soluble source of carbonate ions.

Food additive and cooking

Sodium carbonate is a food additive (E500) used as an acidity regulator, anticaking agent,
raising agent, and stabilizer. It is one of the components of kansui (かん水), a solution of
alkaline salts used to give ramen noodles their characteristic flavor and texture. It is used
in the production of snus to stabilize the pH of the final product. Sodium carbonate is 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. 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 to change the pH of the surface of the
food and improve browning.

Inexpensive, weak base

Sodium carbonate is also used as a relatively strong base in various fields. As a common
alkali, it is preferred in many chemical processes because it is cheaper than NaOH and far
safer to handle. Its mildness especially recommends its use in domestic applications.

For example, it is used as a pH regulator to maintain stable alkaline conditions necessary

for the action of the majority of photographic film developing agents. It is also a common
additive in swimming pools and aquarium water to maintain a desired pH and carbonate
hardness (KH). 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). It is also used in the froth
floatation process to maintain a favourable pH as a float conditioner besides CaO and
other mildly basic compounds.

Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) or baking soda, also a component in fire extinguishers, is

often generated from sodium carbonate. Although NaHCO3 is itself an intermediate
product of the Solvay process, the heating needed to remove the ammonia that
contaminates it decomposes some NaHCO3, making it more economic to react finished
Na2CO3 with CO2:

Na2CO3 + CO2 + H2O → 2NaHCO3

In a related reaction, sodium carbonate is used to make sodium bisulphite (NaHSO3),

which is used for the "sulfite" method of separating lignin from cellulose. This reaction is
exploited for removing sulphur dioxide from flue gases in power stations:

Na2CO3 + SO2 + H2O → NaHCO3 + NaHSO3

This application has become more common, especially where stations have to meet
stringent emission controls.

Sodium carbonate is used by the cotton industry to neutralize the sulfuric acid needed for
acid delinting of fuzzy cottonseed.

Miscellaneous

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.

Physical properties
The integral enthalpy of solution of sodium carbonate is −28.1 kJ/mol for a 10% w/w
aqueous solution.[16] The Mohs hardness of sodium carbonate monohydrate is 1.3.[6]

Occurrence as natural mineral

Structure of monohydrate at 346 K.

Sodium carbonate is soluble in water, and 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 to have 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.

Extraterrestrially, known sodium carbonate is rare. Deposits have been identified as the
source of bright spots on Ceres, interior material that has been brought to the surface.[17]
While there are carbonates on Mars, and these are expected to include sodium
carbonate,[18] deposits have yet to be confirmed, this absence is explained by some as being
due to a global dominance of low pH in previously aqueous Martian soil.[19]

Production
Mining

Trona, trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate (Na3HCO3CO3·2H2O), is mined in

several areas of the US and provides nearly all the domestic consumption of 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; two million tons of soda ash
have been extracted 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.[citation needed]

Barilla and kelp

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.[20]

Leblanc process

Main article: Leblanc process

In 1792, the French chemist Nicolas Leblanc patented a process for producing sodium
carbonate from salt, sulphuric acid, limestone, and coal. In the first step, sodium chloride is
treated with sulfuric acid in the Mannheim process. This reaction produces sodium sulfate
(salt cake) and hydrogen chloride:

2NaCl + H2SO4 → Na2SO4 + 2HCl

The salt cake and crushed limestone (calcium carbonate) was reduced by heating with
coal.[15] This conversion entails two parts. First is the carbothermic reaction whereby the
coal, a source of carbon, reduces the sulfate to sulfide:

Na2SO4 + 2C → Na2S + 2CO2

The second stage is the reaction to produce sodium carbonate and calcium sulfide:

Na2S + CaCO3 → Na2CO3 + CaS

This mixture is called black ash. The soda ash is extracted from the black ash with water.
Evaporation of this extract yields solid sodium carbonate. This extraction process was
termed lixiviation.

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.[20][21]

Solvay process

Main article: Solvay process

In 1861, the Belgian industrial chemist Ernest Solvay developed a method to convert
sodium chloride to sodium carbonate using ammonia and carbon dioxide:[15]

NaCl + NH3 + CO2 + H2O → NaHCO3 + NH4Cl

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

2NaHCO3 → Na2CO3 + H2O + CO2

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

2NH4Cl + CaO → 2NH3 + CaCl2 + H2O

The Solvay process recycles its ammonia. It consumes only brine and limestone, and
calcium chloride is its only waste product. The process is substantially more economical
than the Leblanc process, which generates two waste products, calcium sulfide and
hydrogen chloride. The Solvay process quickly came to dominate sodium carbonate
production worldwide. By 1900, 90% of sodium carbonate was produced by the Solvay
process, and the last Leblanc process plant closed in the early 1920s.[15]

The second step of the Solvay process, heating sodium bicarbonate, is used on a small scale
by home cooks and in restaurants to make sodium carbonate for culinary purposes
(including pretzels and alkali noodles), as sodium bicarbonate is commonly available as
baking soda and the temperatures required (250 °F (121 °C) to 300 °F (149 °C)) to convert
baking soda to sodium carbonate can be achieved in conventional kitchen ovens.[22]

Hou's process

This process was developed by Chinese chemist Hou Debang in the 1930s. The earlier
steam reforming byproduct carbon dioxide was pumped through a saturated solution of
sodium chloride and ammonia to produce sodium bicarbonate by these reactions:

CH4 + 2H2O → CO2 + 4H2

3H2 + N2 → 2NH3
NH3 + CO2 + H2O → NH4HCO3
NH4HCO3 + NaCl → NH4Cl + NaHCO3

The sodium bicarbonate was collected as a precipitate due to its low solubility and then
heated up to approximately 80 °C (176 °F) or 95 °C (203 °F) to yield pure sodium
carbonate similar to last step of the Solvay process. More sodium chloride is added to the
remaining solution of ammonium and sodium chlorides; also, more ammonia is pumped at
30-40 °C to this solution. The solution temperature is then lowered to below 10 °C.
Solubility of ammonium chloride is higher than that of sodium chloride at 30 °C and lower
at 10 °C. Due to this temperature-dependent solubility difference and the common-ion
effect, ammonium chloride is precipitated in a sodium chloride solution.

The Chinese name of Hou's process, lianhe zhijian fa (联合制碱法), means "coupled
manufacturing alkali method": Hou's process is coupled to the Haber process and offers
better atom economy by eliminating the production of calcium chloride, since ammonia no
longer needs to be regenerated. The byproduct ammonium chloride can be sold as a
fertilizer.