Washing Soda Ingredients

Washing soda is a white powder soluble in water, that is used in soaps and detergents amongst others. It has industrial, commercial and domestic uses. The chemical name of washing soda is sodium carbonate. Soda ash is an industrial name of washing soda. The chemical structure for sodium carbonate is Na₂CO₃. It mainly occurs in a colorless and transparent crystalline form and converts into a powder when the crystal loses all the water. It decomposes when heated. There are two forms of sodium carbonate - light soda and dense soda. Let's find out some more about its ingredients.

Sodium carbonate is derived from many sources. When seasonal lakes evaporate, they leave a huge chunk of mineral deposits behind. These deposits are good sources of sodium carbonate. Other dry lakes and wells are also good sources of sodium carbonate. It is also believed to have been erupted from volcanoes. Large deposits of sodium carbonate are found in Africa and North America.

Apart from the natural sources, there are other ways to manufacture sodium carbonate. Following are some of the most used and known processes for manufacturing this washing soda ingredient.

Solvay Process
This process involves the adding of ammonia in a sodium chloride solution. Sodium bicarbonate is precipitated by bubbling carbon dioxide through the above solution. This sodium bicarbonate decomposes into sodium carbonate or washing soda, after it is heated.

Leblanc Process
This process involves the use of sea salt, coal, sulfuric acid and crushed limestone. Sea salt is boiled with sulfuric acid which forms sodium sulfate. Crushed limestone and coal is later added to this sodium sulfate, to form a mixture. This mixture is burnt which produces calcium sulfide. Washing soda is extracted by adding water to these ashes and letting it evaporate. However, this process highly pollutes the air and is hence not used since the 1880s.

Hou's Process
Long story short, Hou's process is an upgradation of the Solvay process. The first few steps remaining the same, carbon dioxide and ammonia are pumped into the solution instead of limestone. Further, sodium chloride is added and this solution is left to saturate at 40ºC. It is then cooled to 10ºC and recycled to produce sodium carbonate. Ammonium chloride also precipitates in this process.

Uses of Washing Soda
Among the other uses of washing soda (sodium carbonate), it is used domestically as a water softener and in water treatment. Washing soda is an ingredient in detergents and is used in soap making process also. Glass making and paper making are the industrial uses of washing soda. Sodium carbonate (soda ash) is cheaper and safer to handle and is hence used as a common base in many industries. Commercially, sodium carbonate is important for the manufacture of baking soda, is used in fire extinguishers and is used to remove sulfur dioxide from fuel gases. Washing soda is also used in the production of certain chemicals and in mining. The main reason to add washing soda as one of the important laundry detergent ingredients is because it is the cheaper alternative to lye, that is needed in making soap.

Environmental Impact
Sodium carbonate is alkaline in nature with pH level of 11.6. If sodium carbonate is released in water, the pH value of water as well as the level of alkalinity will increase. This might affect the aquatic life and water quality. The environment also gets affected when washing soda is manufactured by the chemical processes. The byproducts of these processes are enough to cause air pollution which is harmful. Other than that, there are no toxic effects of washing soda.

There are no other main ingredients of washing soda. However, this chemical forms the basic ingredient in many products that we use daily.