Chapter One

1. Introduction
1.1. Background of Soda Ash Product
Soda ash, also known as sodium carbonate is one of the chemicals that are produced in
large amounts in the world. In 1998, in the USA, in terms of production, soda ash was
the 11th largest inorganic chemical of all domestic inorganic and organic chemicals
excluding petrochemical feed stocks.

Currently, an increasing percentage of the soda ash production in the world is obtained from
the process of mineral trona (natural soda ash) Na 2CO3.NaHCO3.2H2O. Mineral
trona or carbonate-bearing brines is mainly found in United States.

Natural soda ash is found in the USA and other parts of Africa such as Lake Magadi in
Kenya and Botash in Botswana. In other locations (Asia, Europe, Middle East and South
America) that lack natural soda ash sources, soda ash is manufactured synthetically by means
of the Solvay process (ammonia process). The Solvay process uses salt, limestone and
ammonia. The other synthetic processes include the modified Solvay process and dry
liming process. The Solvay process is widely used in other countries.

Soda ash is an important raw material in the manufacturing process of glass, chemicals,
detergents and soaps, paper, ceramic materials, medicine, textiles, steel manufacture, petroleum
and metal refining, water treatment and other important industrial products. Glass
production uses half of global soda ash produced [Örg03], [Glo08]. In the USA Soda ash is also
used in flat glass for automobile manufacturing and building construction.

Soda ash also known as sodium carbonate is an alkali chemical refined from trona ore. It is an
odorless powder which is not toxic, flammable, and explosive. Soda ash is available in three
different grades namely dense soda ash, light soda ash, and washing soda. Dense soda ash is an
anhydrous substance mostly used in the manufacturing of industrial chemicals. Light soda ash is
used as pH regulator in various industrial processes. Washing soda is an anhydrous substance
that is produced combining light soda with additional molecules of water and used in soaps and
washing detergents to improve their cleaning properties. Sodium carbonate is used in the
production of high performance powder detergents for laundry and dish washing. Sodium
carbonate is a very efficient source of alkalinity reserve and plays an important role in water
softening. As a result it has been approved by many detergent producers in nil-phosphate
containing formulations. It may also be used for the direct soaking of clothes, dishwashing, floor
washing and for degreasing operations.

Soda Ash Light or light Sod is an important basic industrial alkali chemical used in soap and
detergents, pulp and paper, iron and steel, aluminum cleaning compounds, water softening and
dyeing, in fiber–reactive dyes, effluent treatment and production of chemicals.

The Global Soda Ash Market is expected to witness a significant growth of ~23.1 billion by
2022 with CAGR of ~4.9% between 2016 and 2022. Soda ash has found numerous application
such as water softening in laundering, food additive, foaming agent in toothpaste, stain remover
and many other. Increasing demand for building and construction activities is likely to drive the
soda ash market growth. The growing glass industry on account of developing domestic as well
as commercial buildings particularly in Asia-Pacific and Middle East has boosted the global soda
ash market over the forecasted period. This project was motivated by the lack of suppliers
of synthetic soda ash in Africa especially, in our country, Ethiopia.

1.2. Statement of Problem

There is a growing demand for Soda Ash in South Africa, particularly in the glass
manufacturing industry. Our country is importing this product to cover this increasing demand
for Soda ash as due to the absence of production factories of this product locally. The quality of
soda ash coming from the USA is good but the cost is double even from the soda ash product
(Botash) originating from Botswana. This project highly motivated by the fact that the foreign
currency that the country expends to import this product. Na 2CO3 is also produced from large
deposits of mineral trona or high trona-soda ash brine.

The importance of soda ash in many industrial applications, environmental applications, glass
manufacture, metallurgic application, and any other purpose is well recognized and its demand
also increase from year to year. The complexity of its production technology, and low emphasis
of government and investor would have an adverse effect in the implementation of producing
soda ash in our country. Aiming to overcome this problem, the project came up with alternative
way which helps for the success of the plan. These solutions include making use of relatively
cheap raw materials and labor force which in turn may help the project to reduce the cost of
production for the plant. This project aimed to maximize the supply of soda ash for the local
demand which by gradually substituting the imported soda ash product. In this regard, this
project is focused on the study of synthetic process called Solvay process.

1.3. Objectives
1.3.1. General objective
The main objective of this project is to show effective method used in the production of ‘soda
ash’ by Solvay processes.

1.3.2. Specific Objectives

 To identify steps involved in the production of soda ash
 To identify the raw materials used and their specifications in the production of soda ash
 To identify the physical and chemical properties of reactants and products involved in the
production of soda ash
 To perform manual calculations of material and energy balances

1.4. Scope of the project

The scope of the project is prepared binder and characterizing the product. The scope of this
study is not only applied to Nifas Silk Paint Factory. After applying this study in my host
company and knowing its possibility and significance; the study will be available to other paint
manufacturing companies.