Soda ash, chemically known as sodium carbonate, is not a base but a salt, an inorganic compound, despite its name with alkali. Because sodium carbonate solution PH = 11.7, indicating that sodium carbonate solution is alkaline, so commonly known as soda ash.
Properties: Soda ash is a white odorless powder or granule at room temperature. It is absorbent and gradually absorbs 1 mol/L of water (about 15%) when exposed to air. Its hydrates are sodium carbonate monohydrate, sodium carbonate heptahydrate and sodium carbonate decahydrate.
Solubility: Soda ash is easily soluble in water and glycerol, 20g of soda ash can be dissolved in 100g of water at 20℃, the maximum solubility is at 35.4℃, 49.7g of soda ash can be dissolved in 100g of water, slightly soluble in anhydrous ethanol, difficult to dissolve in propanol.
Some uses of soda ash
Soda ash is a very important chemical raw material, widely used in light industry, building materials, chemical industry, food industry, metallurgy, textile, petroleum, national defense, medicine and other fields, used as raw materials for the manufacture of other chemicals, detergents, cleaning agents, detergents, but also used in the field of photography and analysis.
Chemical mainly used in the production of sodium salt, metal carbonates, baking soda, sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sodium silicate, borax, bleach, fillers, detergents, catalysts and dyes;
Used in the food industry, as a neutralizer, bulking agent, such as the manufacture of amino acids, soy sauce and noodle foods such as steamed bread, bread and so on. Can also be formulated into lye added to pasta to increase the elasticity and ductility. Can also be used to produce monosodium glutamate;
As a buffer, neutralizer and dough improver, can be used in pastry and noodle food;
As a detergent used in wool rinsing, bath salts and medicinal use, alkali agent in tanning;
Used in pharmaceutical industry as antacid and osmotic light laxative。