Sodium Carbonate

Soda is the collective name for several forms of sodium carbonate. The most commercially important form is the dehydrated product soda ash (Na2CO3). The decahydrate (Na2CO3.10 H2O) is also known as washing soda or sal soda. Soda ash is so called because it was once extracted from plant ashes; now almost all is manufactured by the Solvay or ammonia soda process. The primary users of soda are the glass and chemical industries. Sodium carbonate occurs in nature in combination with the bicarbonate as trona and is recovered from evaporated lakes in California. Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3) is used as an effervescent agent in foods and as a cleanser.