Sodium commercial production

In 1825 Berzelius reduced K TaF with potassium and got an impure metal. Rose prepared a purer metal powder in 1866 by reduction with sodium. Commercial production today is based on these old reactions. 

Di-teo-propyl ether. The commercial product usually contains appreciable quantities of peroxides these should be removed by treatment with an acidified solution of a ferrous salt or with a solution of sodium sulphite (see under Diethyl ether). The ether is then dried with anhydrous calcium chloride and distilled. Pure di-iao-propyl ether has b.p. 68-5°/760 mm. 

Make a thin paste of 21 5 g. of finely-powdered o-tolidine (a commercial product) with 300 ml. of water in a 1-litre beaker, add 25 g. (21 ml.) of concentrated hydrochloric acid, and warm until dissolved. Cool the solution to 10° with ice, stir mechanically, and add a further 25 g. (21 ml.) of concentrated hydrochloric acid (1) partial separation of o tolidine dihydrochloride will occur. Add a solution of 15 g, of sodium nitrite in 30 ml. of water as rapidly as possible, but keep the temperature below 15° a slight excess of nitrous acid is not harmful in this preparation. Add the clear, orange tetrazonium solution to 175 ml. of 30 per cent, hypophosphorous acid (2), and allow the mixture to stand, loosely stoppered, at room temperature for 16-18 hours. Transfer to a separatory funnel, and remove the upper red oily layer. Extract the aqueous layer with 50 ml, of benzene. Dry the combined upper layer and benzene extract with anhydrous magnesium sulphate, and remove the benzene by distillation (compare Fig. II, 13, 4) from a Widmer or similar flask (Figs. II, 24, 3-5) heat in an oil bath to 150° to ensure the removal of the last traces of benzene. Distil the residue at ca. 3 mm. pressure and a temperature of 155°. Collect the 3 3 -dimethyldiphenyl as a pale yellow liquid at 114-115°/3 mm. raise the bath temperature to about 170° when the temperature of the thermometer in the flask commences to fall. The yield is 14 g. 

Prepare anhydrous tert.-butyl alcohol by refluxing the commercial product with sodium ca. 4 g. per 100 ml.) until the metal is about two-thirds dissolved and then distilling. Free metal should be present during the distillation. 

The method of obtaining aluminum metal by the electrolysis of alumina dissolved in cryolite was discovered in 1886 by Hall in the U.S. and at about the same time by Heroult in France. Cryolite, a natural ore found in Greenland, is no longer widely used in commercial production, but has been replaced by an artificial mixture of sodium, aluminum, and calcium fluorides. 

Commercial production from petroleum ash holds promise as an important source of the element. High-purity ductile vanadium can be obtained by reduction of vanadium trichloride with magnesium or with magnesium-sodium mixtures. 

The first commercial production of fatty alcohol ia the 1930s employed the sodium reduction process usiug a methyl ester feedstock. The process was used ia plants constmcted up to about 1950, but it was expensive, hazardous, and complex. By about 1960 most of the sodium reduction plants had been replaced by those employing the catalytic hydrogenolysis process. Catalytic hydrogenation processes were investigated as early as the 1930s by a number of workers one of these is described ia reference 26. 

A 25% dispersion of NaH crystals ia oil is obtained. The commercial product, after filtration, is a 60% dispersion of NaH crystals (5—50 p.m). The oil dispersions can be handled quite safely because the oil phase provides a barrier to air and moisture, whereas the unprotected crystals react vigorously. Traces of unreacted sodium metal give the product a gray color. 

Hydroxy-2-Naphthalcnccarboxylic Acid. 3-Hydroxy-2-naphthoic acid or p-oxynaphthoic acid (BON BONA Developer 8) (28) is the principal commercial product among the hydroxynaphthalenecarboxyUc acids. To produce BON, 2-naphthol is first transformed into sodium... 

The commercial product is a powder containing a minimum of 96% Na202 and approximately 20% active oxygen. It is made commercially by oxidizing the molten metal with either oxygen or air enriched in oxygen. Early industrial history (1) and manufacturing details (3) are available. Sodium... 

The commercial product is a white powder containing a minimum of 13% of active oxygen and up to 15% of anhydrous sodium carbonate. The solubihty ia water at 20°C is about 150 g/L. 

The trisodium phosphate system is the most complex and the commercial product is generally of variable composition and often contains excess sodium hydroxide. It has long been recognized that the usual formula, Na PO does not accurately represent the constitution of this salt. A better... 

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram for the commercial production of potassium from sodium and potassium chloride. EM = electromagnetic.

Silica sols are often called colloidal silicas, although other amorphous forms also exhibit colloidal properties owing to high surface areas. Sols are stable dispersions of amorphous siUca particles in a Hquid, almost always water. Commercial products contain siUca particles having diameters of about 3—100 nm, specific surface areas of 50—270 m /g, and siUca contents of 15—50 wt %. These contain small (<1 wt%) amounts of stabilizers, most commonly sodium ions. The discrete particles are prevented from aggregating by mutually repulsive negative charges. 

Sir Humphry Davy first isolated metallic sodium ia 1807 by the electrolytic decomposition of sodium hydroxide. Later, the metal was produced experimentally by thermal reduction of the hydroxide with iron. In 1855, commercial production was started usiag the DeviUe process, ia which sodium carbonate was reduced with carbon at 1100°C. In 1886 a process for the thermal reduction of sodium hydroxide with carbon was developed. Later sodium was made on a commercial scale by the electrolysis of sodium hydroxide (1,2). The process for the electrolytic decomposition of fused sodium chloride, patented ia 1924 (2,3), has been the preferred process siace iastallation of the first electrolysis cells at Niagara Falls ia 1925. Sodium chloride decomposition is widely used throughout the world (see Sodium compounds). 

Sodium nitrate is used as a fertiliser and in a number of industrial processes. In the period from 1880—1910 it accounted for 60% of the world fertiliser nitrogen production. In the 1990s sodium nitrate accounts for 0.1% of the world fertiliser nitrogen production, and is used for some specific crops and soil conditions. This decline has resulted from an enormous growth in fertiliser manufacture and an increased use of less expensive nitrogen fertilisers (qv) produced from synthetic ammonia (qv), such as urea (qv), ammonium nitrate, ammonium phosphates, ammonium sulfate, and ammonia itself (see Ammonium compounds). The commercial production of synthetic ammonia began in 1921, soon after the end of World War I. The main industrial market for sodium nitrate was at first the manufacture of nitric acid (qv) and explosives (see Explosives and propellants). As of the mid-1990s sodium nitrate was used in the production of some explosives and in a number of industrial areas. 

Sodium Bisulfite. Sodium bisulfite, NaHSO, exists in solution but is not a stable compound in the soHd state. The anhydrous sodium bisulfite of commerce consists of sodium metabisulfite, Na2S20. Aqueous sodium bisulfite solution, having specific gravity 1.36 and containing the equivalent of 26—27 wt % SO2, is a commercial product. 

Gra.des. There are three primary commercial sodium dithionite products 88 min wt % anhydrous product, 70 wt % dry product (often blended with other stabilizers or additives), and 125 g/L stabilized solution. 

Passing a stream of nitrogen at 95—100°C through a reaction mixture of ethyl ether and 30 wt % oleum prepared at 15°C results in the entrainment of diethyl sulfate. Continuous operation provides a >50% yield (96). The most economical process for the manufacture of diethyl sulfate starts with ethylene and 96 wt % sulfuric acid heated at 60°C. The resulting mixture of 43 wt % diethyl sulfate, 45 wt % ethyl hydrogen sulfate, and 12 wt % sulfuric acid is heated with anhydrous sodium sulfate under vacuum, and diethyl sulfate is obtained in 86% yield the commercial product is >99% pure (97). 

Soluble Sta.nna.tes, Many metal staimates of formula M Sn(OH) are known. The two main commercial products are the soluble sodium and potassium salts, which are usually obtained by recovery from the alkaline detinning process. They are also produced by the fusion of stannic oxide with sodium hydroxide or potassium carbonate, respectively, followed by leaching and by direct electrolysis of tin metal in the respective caustic solutions in cells using cation-exchange membranes (27). Another route is the recovery from plating sludges. 

Reduction. BrezeHus attempted the first reduction of zirconium in 1824 by the reaction of sodium with potassium fiuorozirconate. However, the first pure ductile metal was made in 1925 by the iodide thermal-dissociation method. The successfiil commercial production of pure ductile zirconium via the magnesium reduction of zirconium tetrachloride vapor in an inert gas atmosphere was the result of the intense research efforts of KroU and... 

Whereas there is no commercial production of sodium pentaborate pentahydrate, the compound can be prepared by crystallizing a borax-boric acid solution having a Na20 B202 mol ratio of 0.2. 

Lithium Hypochlorite. High purity, anhydrous lithium hypochlorite [13840-33-0] LiOCl, is a white, lightweight, dusty, hygroscopic, and corrosive powder. The monohydrate is free-flowing, nondusty, and of reasonable density. The presence of diluents such as salt, sodium, and potassium sulfates reduces dustiness, increases bulk density, reduces reactivity, and improves storage stabiUty. The commercial product is marketed in this form. 

Although first prepared about 1930 by scientists at the German chemical company of IG Farben the early products showed no properties meriting production on technical grounds. However, towards the end of the 1930s commercial production of the copolymer commenced in Germany as Buna S. (The term Buna arose from the fact that the early polymers of butadiene were made by sodium (Na) catalysed... 

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