Describe how sodium hydrogen carbonate (baking soda) is produced on a large scale. Write equation of the reaction involved.

Baking soda is obtained by the reaction of cold and concentrated solution of sodium chloride with carbon dioxide and ammonia. This is known as Solvay process. NaCl + CO2 + NH3 + H2O NH4Cl + NaHCO3 In this process, calcium carbonate is used as the source of CO2 and the resultant calcium oxide is used to recover ammonia from ammonium chloride.


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