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How to Obtain Raw Material for Sodium Bicarbonate

Sodium bicarbonate is itself a raw material. In nature, sodium bicarbonate exists as nahcolite deposits. This substance is found in bile and in mineral springs. It can also be found in natron deposits, but then the 17 percent sodium bicarbonate has to be separated from the sodium carbonate. The raw materials for sodium bicarbonate are sodium carbonate, water, and carbon dioxide. Sodium bicarbonate occurs naturally or can be precipitated using the Solvay process, wherein ammoniated salt brine is carbonated by heating limestone.

Things You'll Need

Pickup truck
Shovel
Tarp or large plastic drums
Mill
Brine
Limestone
Industrial facility

Instructions

Collecting Nahcolite
- 1
  
  Pickup truck
  
  Drive a pickup truck out to a location bearing a nahcolite deposit, such as Searles Lake in the Mojave Desert.
- 2
  
  Shovel
  
  Using your shovel, dig into the dry river bed, filling your large plastic drums or flatbed with nahcolite, aka sodium bicarbonate, aka baking soda.
- 3
  
  A tarp
  
  Cover the bed of your pickup truck with a tarp so that your large quantity of sodium bicarbonate does not blow away on the highway.
- 4
  
  Sodium bicarbonate
  
  Grind or mill nahcolite into a refined powder.
Precipitating Sodium Bicarbonate Using the Solvay Process
- 5
  
  Brine
  
  Obtain brine (seawater) using a pickup truck and plastic drums.
- 6
  
  Limestone
  
  Gather limestone from a deposit such as Notch Peak in Utah or the islands of the Florida Keys.
- 7
  
  Industrial facility
  
  In an industrial facility, mix ammonia and concentrated brine.
- 8
  
  Flames
  
  Heat the limestone to 1,100° Celsius, allowing carbon dioxide bubbles to pass through the ammoniated brine.
- 9
  
  Sodium bicarbonate
  
  Collect the precipitated sodium bicarbonate.

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