Sodium Mining

Sodium presence in the earth is about 2.6% which makes it as an abundant element on earth. The sodium found is in the form of sodium chloride not sodium as it is highly reactive. The pure sodium metal is produced from sodium chloride (NaCl) by an electrolytic process. Halite is a NaCl rich ore found on the earth's surface.

Mining:

The mining for sodium chloride is done by methods such as deep shaft mining, Solution mining and solar evaporation.

Deep shaft mining is just like the underground mining in which holes are dug to mine the minerals. In the deep shaft mining, room and pillar system is employed here. In this room and floor system the salt beds found on the underground are mined and drilled in such a way that resembles like rooms with pillars in it. The drilled ores then lifted to the surface by the help of conveyor belts. The room and pillar technique is very effective for the deep underground mines. Halite is the major ore mined in this method.

In solution mining, water is injected inside the wells which are built above the settled salt beds of the earth. The injected water dissolves the salts and the salt solution which is called as brine solution is pumped back out to the surface with the vacuum pans. In the vacuum pans the brine solution undergoes boiling where the water in the solution is evaporated leaving the hard salts behind.

Next is solar evaporation method, here the sodium chloride needed to produce sodium is collected from the saline seawater or lake water. The sea water or lake water is made to spread in a large are where the mind and sun evaporates the water leaving the salt in it.

This method is the most efficient way to produce sodium chloride as it is 100% pure. But this method can only be executed in the areas with lesser rainfall and higher sunny atmosphere.Halite ore is mostly mined in the countries such as USA, China, Russia, Canada and Germany for the extraction of sodium chloride from it.

Extraction of sodium metal:

The collected sodium chloride ores from the mines are performed filtration and refining for a quality product. Then it is used in the extraction. The extraction of sodium metal in an industrial scale is executed by Down's process. Down's process is an electrolytic process with fused NaCl and CaCl2.

The fused sodium chloride and calcium chloride is filled in a rectangular steel electrolysis vessel containing cathode and anode. The vessel is heated in a high temperature to melt the sodium present in the fused solution. When the electrolytic process is started, the sodium chloride in the electrolytic solution gets reduced to Na+ and Cl- ions.

2NaCl? 2Na+ + 2Cl-

The Na+ ions then moves towards the cathode and are sucked out. Then the sucked sodium is refined and filtered for a pure sodium metal.China, Japan, India are some countries with larger sodium metal production in Asia. USA and Canada are largest sodium metal producers in American continent while France and Germany are in Europe.

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