Ceramic – Glass
Raw materials for Glass Manufacturing:
Preparation of Soda Ash:
Soda Ash is present naturally in evaporated lake beds. Also it can be prepared from ashes of any plant or from sea weeds. But the world demand cannot be met by these natural resources. There are different synthetic methods for producing Soda Ash. It is only possible by these methods that the high demand of soda ash in glass and chemical industry can be met. Of these processes, the Solvay’s process is the most widely used process for manufacturing soda ash. This Solvay’s process is also called as the Ammonia Soda Process.
This process has a number of advantages to its credit. First being that the raw materials used for production are readily available anywhere in the world. The main raw materials used are Brine and Lime Stone. Lime Stone is naturally available. It can be mined and processed for beneficiation and grounded for size distribution and used in this process. Brine is naturally available in form of sea water. If the proposed location is not near sea, then salt can be dissolved and used in the process as Brine. Another advantage is that the ammonia used in the process can be fully regenerated in the process and recycled for use again. Also, to the original Solvay process there are so many modifications followed by different manufacturers. One is that the process can be modified to produce ammonium chloride as a by-product. This is an additional value add, as ammonium chloride has a very good use as fertilizer for rice cultivation. Other well known processes for soda ash manufacturing are Trona Process, Nacholite and Carbonation of Caustic Soda. We shall see the other processes later and we shall discuss in detail the Solvay’s process in the coming blogs…
To be contd….
