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The Castner process is a process for manufacturing sodium metal by electrolysis of molten sodium hydroxide at approximately 330 °C. Below that temperature, the melt would solidify; above that temperature, the molten sodium would start to dissolve in the melt.
In this reaction, sodium hydroxide acts as an agent to make the solution alkaline, which aluminium can dissolve in. 2 Al + 2 NaOH + 2 H 2 O → 2 NaAlO 2 + 3 H 2. Sodium aluminate is an inorganic chemical that is used as an effective source of aluminium hydroxide for many industrial and technical applications.
The reaction between sodium hydroxide and some metals is also hazardous. Aluminium , magnesium , zinc , tin , chromium , brass and bronze all react with lye to produce hydrogen gas. Since hydrogen is flammable , mixing a large quantity of lye with aluminium could result in an explosion.
A disadvantage of sodium is its chemical reactivity, which requires special precautions to prevent and suppress fires. If sodium comes into contact with water it reacts to produce sodium hydroxide and hydrogen, and the hydrogen burns in contact with air. This was the case at the Monju Nuclear Power Plant in a 1995 accident. In addition, neutron ...
Related processes are known that use molten NaCl to give chlorine and sodium metal or condensed hydrogen chloride to give hydrogen and chlorine. The process has a high energy consumption, for example around 2,500 kWh (9,000 MJ) of electricity per tonne of sodium hydroxide produced.
Sodium soaps have a higher melting temperature (and seem "harder") than potassium soaps. [24] Like all the alkali metals, sodium reacts exothermically with water. The reaction produces caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) and flammable hydrogen gas. When burned in air, it forms primarily sodium peroxide with some sodium oxide. [26]
Sodium oxide is produced by the reaction of sodium with sodium hydroxide, sodium peroxide, or sodium nitrite: [5] 2 NaOH + 2 Na → 2 Na 2 O + H 2. To the extent that NaOH is contaminated with water, correspondingly greater amounts of sodium are employed. Excess sodium is distilled from the crude product. [6]
Molten salts (fluoride, chloride, and nitrate) can be used as heat transfer fluids as well as for thermal storage. This thermal storage is used in concentrated solar power plants. [8] [9] Molten-salt reactors are a type of nuclear reactor that uses molten salt(s) as a coolant or as a solvent in which the fissile material is dissolved ...