Baking soda, NaHCO3, can be commercially produced during a series of chemical reactions called the Solvay process. In this proce
ss, NH3(aq), NaCl(aq), and other chemicals are used to produce NaHCO3(s) and NH Cl(aq).
To reduce production costs, NH3(aq) is recovered from NHCl(aq) through a different series of reactions. This series of reactions can be summarized by the
overall reaction represented by the unbalanced equation below.
NHACH(aq) + Ca(s) - NH3(aq) + H20() + CaCl(aq)
Balance the equation below for the overall reaction used to recover NH3(aq), using the smallest whole-number coefficients.
The solvay process is an important process in the chemical industry. In this process, ammonia gas is first dissolved in concentrated brine to form a mixture known as ammoniacal brine. This solution is made to trickle down the tower. A counter stream of carbon dioxide is forced up the tower. The two substances react to form sodium hydrogen trioxocarbonate IV. This substance is only slightly soluble and separates out as a solid sludge. The product is now dried and heated to give sodium trioxocarbonate IV.
The overall reaction of the process can be given as;
