The chloralkali process is the chemical engineering method of producing chlorine gas and sodium hydroxide by passing an electric current through a concentrated solution of sodium chloride, a form of electrolysis that splits the salt solution into its constituent products at the cell's electrodes. Industrial versions of the process, including the mercury-cell, diaphragm-cell and, increasingly, membrane-cell designs, are used to supply the two chemicals in the roughly fixed ratio the reaction produces them, and they underpin large sectors of the chemical industry, since chlorine and caustic soda are basic feedstocks for products ranging from PVC plastic and paper bleaching to water treatment and soap manufacture.
Facts
Core PrincipleThe chloralkali process works by passing an electric current through a concentrated solution of sodium chloride, electrolyzing the brine to yield chlorine gas at one electrode and sodium hydroxide at the other. 1 FAQs
Why are membrane cells replacing mercury and diaphragm cells in chloralkali plants?
Because the ion exchange membrane process offers economic and environmental advantages over mercury and diaphragm cells.
Conventionally the chloralkali process used mercury cells and diaphragm cells for the electrolysis step. A source on mercury-free technology from the Japanese Ministry of the Environment states that the ion exchange membrane process provides many economic and environmental advantages, and that the older processes are therefore being replaced by it.
Connections
Sources
1. Chloralkali Process (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section
The chloralkali process (also chlor-alkali and chlor alkali) is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions.
History section
Industrial scale production began in 1892.
In Group: Chemical Production Processes, Introduction
The chloralkali process (also chlor-alkali and chlor alkali) is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions.
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