Application of electrodialysis for recovering sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate from Lake Van

Abstract

Sodium salts have a crucial role, both in industrial chemical processes and in daily life. In practice, sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate are known as soda. Soda is an important resource; in food industry as baking soda, and in chemical industry with its whitener and anti-lime properties. Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey. It is located in eastern region and has 6 billion ton soda reserve, which makes it the largest natural soda source in Turkey. In this study, the performance of electrodialysis (ED) for recovering the soda content in Lake Van is investigated. It is found that by applying ED on Lake Van water, the concentration of the soda can be increased from 14,000 up to 25,000 ppm, with a single unit ED in 60 min. Investigating and characterizing the ED parameters from this perspective in a deeper analysis paved the way for reducing the production time and increase in the cost efficiency of the soda industry.