I have a question for the experts regarding soda ash
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I’m a newcomer; I’d like to ask the experts here. Ordinary glass, glass produced from soda ash and glass produced from a mixture of sodium sulfate and carbon. What exactly is the difference? Why is soda ash, rather than sodium sulfate, the main material used in glass production?
Glass is produced by the reaction of silicon dioxide and sodium carbonate at high temperatures; its main component is sodium silicate, with carbon dioxide being generated as a byproduct. It is not known whether it can react with sodium sulfate.
This post was last edited by mkp369 on 2017-2-28 at 10:27. Sodium silicate (Na2SiO3), also known as water glass or xNa2O·ySiO2, is a colorless, cyan-green, or brown solid or viscous liquid. Sodium silicate is produced by melting silica (quartz sand) and soda ash (or ash soda) in a melting furnace, followed by cooling and crushing; coal, natural gas, or gas can all be used as fuel. Components of various types of glass: (1) Ordinary glass (Na2SiO3, CaSiO3, SiO2, or Na2O·CaO·6SiO2); (2) Quartz glass (glass made from pure quartz as the main raw material, with a composition of only SiO2); (3) Tempered glass (has the same composition as ordinary glass); (4) Potassium glass (K2O, CaO, SiO2); (5) Borosilicate glass (SiO2, B2O3). First, figure out what raw materials you are using – it seems to be those used for making water glass. Sodium sulfate seems to be able to be used to produce sodium sulfonate as well, but the by-product sulfur oxides cause severe corrosion of the furnace, and it’s also not feasible from an environmental perspective (methods do exist, but the costs are too high). The main raw materials for glass include quartz sand, limestone, feldspar, soda ash, boric acid, etc.