Scottish Highers Chemistry Problem Solving: Sodium carbonate is used in the

Question

Sodium carbonate is used in the manufacture of soaps, glass and paper as well as the treatment of water.
One industrial process used to make sodium carbonate is the Solvay process.
The Solvay process involves several different chemical reactions.

It starts with heating calcium carbonate to produce carbon dioxide, which is transferred to a reactor where it reacts with ammonia and brine. The products of the reactor are solid sodium hydrogencarbonate and ammonium chloride which are passed into a separator.

The sodium hydrogencarbonate is heated to decompose it into the product sodium carbonate along with carbon dioxide and water. To recover ammonia the ammonium chloride from the reactor is reacted with carbon dioxide produced by heating the calcium carbonate. Calcium chloride is a by-product of the ammonia recovery process.

(a) Using the information above, complete the flow chart by adding the names of the chemicals involved.

(b) The reaction that produces the solid sodium hydrogencarbonate involves the following equilibrium:
HCO₃⁻ (aq) + Na⁺ (aq) ⇌ NaHCO₃ (s)

Brine is a concentrated sodium chloride solution.

Explain fully why using a concentrated sodium chloride solution encourages production of sodium hydrogencarbonate as a salt.

Sodium carbonate is used in the manufacture of soaps, glass and paper as well as the treatment of water - Scottish Highers Chemistry - Question 8 - 2015

Worked Solution & Example Answer:Sodium carbonate is used in the manufacture of soaps, glass and paper as well as the treatment of water - Scottish Highers Chemistry - Question 8 - 2015

Using the information above, complete the flow chart by adding the names of the chemicals involved.

Explain fully why using a concentrated sodium chloride solution encourages production of sodium hydrogencarbonate as a salt.

Join the Scottish Highers students using SimpleStudy...