Recovery of Sodium Hydroxide from Trona Ore and Calcium Carbonate as Raw Materials

The possibility for the production of sodium hydroxide from raw materials of national occurring trona ore and calcium carbonate was investigated. This was occurred by precipitation reaction of sodium carbonate which was produced from trona ore and calcium hydroxide obtained by calcination of calcium carbonate. This process called causticization in which an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide and solid precipitate of calcium carbonate are produced. The starting raw materials for production of sodium carbonate and calcium hydroxide were crushed trona ore and calcium carbonate respectively. The crushed trona ore was leached with warm water to remove silica and other water insoluble materials and then the solution was filtered to obtain a clear solution of sodium carbonate and bicarbonate. Calcium hydroxide was obtained by adding water to calcium oxide that obtained by calcination of calcium carbonate. The chemical analysis of cations Na, Ca, Fe, K, Mg and anions, , , , for trona ore, produced sodium carbonate, calcium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide were studied. Also the purity of produced sodium carbonate, calcium hydroxide and sodium hydroxide were calculated and are found to be 95.80 %. %, 92.97 %. % and 87.60 % respectively.