Thermal decomposition of sodium bicarbonate

Your name (student ID number)

Department of Chemical Engineering
Loughborough University
Leics., LE11 3TU, UK

Abstract
The kinetics of the thermal decomposition of sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)
particles were investigated using an automatic thermobalance at temperatures
between 100C and 150C. The kinetics were found to be first order and followed
the Arrhenius relationship with an activation energy of 56 kJ mol-1. The
decomposition product is a porous sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) which can be
used for the removal of acidic gases such as HCl and SO2 from flue gases at
moderate temperatures.

Introduction
Dry sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) decomposes to sodium carbonate (Na2CO3)
according to the reaction described in equation (1) <insert reference>:

(1)

The reaction is known to occur at temperatures as low as 80C <insert

reference>. It has been shown that Na2CO3 produced in this way is porous and
has a greater pore volume than the original NaHCO3 or crystalline Na2CO3
<insert reference>. Thus, it is a good candidate for removing acidic pollutants
such as SO2 and HCl from flue gas.
The aim of the study ws to determine the rates of decomposition of NaHCO3
particles at temperatures between 100C and 150C. Such data are useful in
assessing the economic viability of this method of manufacture.

Theory
The fractional conversion (X) was calculated using equation (2) from a
determination of the weight loss from the measured sample:

(2)

where Wt is the mass of particles, W0 the initial mass of particles and M the
relative molecular mass of a given compound.

Experimental
The experimental setup is shown in Figure 1. The experiments were carried out
using a standard automatic thermobalance, which measured the sample weight
loss with time. The sample was decomposed in the presence of nitrogen while
the off-gases were removed by suction at a gas flow rate of 0.5 L min-1. This
prevented the possibility of the reverse reaction occurring. The sample holder
consisted of quartz wool supported on platinum wires, in which the solid particles
(average diameter 128 mm) were sprinkled.

Figure 1: Schematic of the experimental setup.

Results and discussion
The results shown are representative of the range of experiments performed. An
initial set of experiments were performed in order to become familiar with the
experimental apparatus and to determine the inherent variability (accuracy) of
the taken measurements. The typical variation in X for three repeat experiments
was 1.5% which was deemed to be acceptable.

Effects of temperature
The fractional conversion (X) is plotted against time for 100C, 125C and 150C in
Figure 2. It can be seen that the reaction proceeds more quickly at higher
temperatures. Also, the conversion occurs more rapidly at shorter times after
which it tends to plateau towards a maximum value. These data agree with the
results of <insert reference>.
The shape of the plots suggests a first order dependence which is confirmed by
the linear plots of ln(1 X) vs. t in Figure 3. <insert reference> agree with this
conclusion but their study was extended to determine the effects of a range of
parameters including both the rate of heating and particle size.
The extracted rate constants are shown in Table A1. A straight line fit to an
Arrhenius plot of the data (Figure 4) yielded an activation energy of 56 kJ mol-1
according to:

(3)

which can be manipulated to give

(4)

where is the fraction of decomposition, t the time, Z the pre-exponential factor,

Ea the activation energy, R the gas constant and n the reaction order.

Figure 2: Effect of temperature on the fractional decomposition of sodium

bicarbonate.
Figure 3: 1st order kinetic fit to sodium bicarbonate decomposition data.
Figure 4: Arrhenius plot for sodium bicarbonate decomposition data.

Conclusions
The kinetics of decomposition of sodium bicarbonate to form sodium carbonate
were successfully determined in the range 100C to 150C using a standard
automatic thermobalance. It is shown that the reaction is first order and the first
order rate constant appears to follow Arrhenius kinetics with a measured
activation energy of 56 kJ mol-1.

Nomenclature
M relative molecular mass (g mol-1)
n reaction order (-)
t time (s)
R gas constant (J mol-1 K-1)
Z pre-exponential factor (s-1)
W0 initial mass of particles (g)
Wt mass of particles (g)
X fractional conversion (-)
fraction of decomposition (-)
Ea activation energy (J mol-1)

References
Hu W., Smith J.P., Dogu T. and Dogu G., 1986. Kinetics of sodium bicarbonate
decomposition, American Institute Chemical Engineers J., 32, 1484-1490.
Keener T.C. and Davis W.T., 1984. Study of the reaction of SO2 with NaHCO3 and
Na2CO3, J. Air Pollution Control Association, 334, 651-654.
Perry R.H. and Chilton C.H., 1973. Chemical Engineers Handbook, 5th Edn.,
McGraw Hill, New York.
Subramanian K.S., Radhakrishnan T.B. and Sundaram A.K., 1972. Thermal
decomposition kinetics of sodium bicarbonate by differential thermal analysis,
Thermal Analysis, 4, 88-93.

Appendix

Table A1: Decomposition rate constants of sodium bcarbonate.

Temperature (C) 100 125 150
Rate constant, k (min-1) 0.0373 0.120 0.319