27

Material Balance
 28

Material balance for production 30% NaOH from 28% NaoH on the
basis of 50 ton production per day.

Basis: 50 MT

Per day production of the plant is 50 MT.

So capacity of the plant = 50 MT NaOH/day

∗
= kmol/hr
∗

=52.083 kmol/hr

= 2083.32 kg/hr
 29

Basic reaction that takes place in the electrolyzer

2 NaCl + H2O = 2NaOH + H2 + Cl2

NaCl +1/2 H2O = NaOH + 1/2 H2 + 1/2Cl2

So equivalent amount of NaCl is needed for production of equivalent Caustic Soda

(NaOH). We could write

1 kmol/h NaOH ≡ 1 kmol/h NaCl

52.083 kmol/h NaOH ≡ 52.083 kmol/h NaCl

NaClin = 300 gpl = 300 g/l = 5.12 kmol/m3 soln

NaClout = 220 gpl = 220 g/l = 3.76 kmol/m3 soln

Amount of NaCl Consumption in the electrolyzer

NaClconsumption= NaClin - NaClout

=(5.12-3.76) kmol/m3 soln

= 1.379 kmol/m3 soln

. ! "#$%/&
Flow rate of brine in the anode side =
.!'( )*+,/*! -+,.

= 37.91 m3/h

Material balance at Anode side

NaClin = 37.76 (m3/h)* 5.12 kmol/m3 soln

= 193 kmol/h

= 11309.805 kg/h

NaClout = 37.76 (m3/h)* 3.76 kmol/m3 soln

 30

= 141.247 kmol/h

= 8262.9495 kg/h

H2Oin =

H2Oout =

Production of Chlorine

We know, NaCl +1/2 H2O = NaOH + 1/2 H2 + 1/2Cl2

Cl2 produced = ½ * 52.083 kmol/h

= 26.046 kmol/h

= 1478.75 kg/h

Flow rate at Cathod side

Density of 28% NaOH at 600C , ρ = 1.284* 103 kg/m3 soln

. ∗/ "0 . "0 1234  "#$%
NaOHin= ∗ ∗
#/  "0 5$%678$9  "0 1234

= 8.988 kmol/m3 soln

Density of 30% NaOH at 850C , ρ = 1.296* 103 kg/m3 soln

.(:∗/ "0 .! "0 1234  "#$%
NaOHout= ∗ ∗
#/  "0 5$%678$9  "0 1234

= 9.7263 kmol/m3 soln

NaOHproduced = NaOHout − NaOHin

= 9.7263 – 8.988

= 0.7383 kmol/m3 soln

. ! "#$% #/
Flow rate at Cathod side = ∗
&; .'! ! "#$%
 31

= 73.253 m3/hr

Material balance at Cathode side:

NaOHin = 8.988 (kmol/m3 soln)*73.253 (m3/hr)

= 658.39 kmol/h

= 26335.6 kg/h

NaOHout = NaOHin + NaOHproduced

= 658.39 + 52.083

= 28418.92 kg/h

= 710.473 kmol/h

H2Oin = 26335.6 * .72 =18961.632 kg/h =1053.424 kmol/h

H2Oout = 28418.92 *0.70 = 19893.244 kg/h = 1105.1802 kmol/h

Hydrogen (H2) produced = ½ * NaOHout

= ½ *710.473

=355.2365 kmol/h

= 710.473 kg/h

NaCl needed = (11309.805 – 8262.9495) kg/h

= 3046.85 kg/h
!:. 
So for production of 50 MT NaOH, amount of Raw salt needed =
.(!

= 3192.71 kg/h
!(.'
& for production of 1 kg NaOH, amount of Raw salt needed = kg
 !.!

= 1.5325 kg raw salt

 32

!:. 
& amount of NaCl needed = kg =1.46 kg NaCl
 !.!

Flow rate at both Anode & Cathode side is shown below-

Flowrate (m3/h) Kmol/hr Kg/hr

NaCl 193.37 11309.805

Anode in H2O 1478.75 26617.5

NaCl 37.76 141.247 8262.9495

Anode out H2O 1478.75 26617.5

Cl2 26.0415 1848.94

NaOH 658.39 26335.6

Cathode in H2O 18961.632 1053.424

NaOH 73.253 28418.92 710.473

Cathode out H2O 19893.244 1105.1802

H2 710.473 355.2365
 33

Sludge Calculation
From our material balance we found that 2083.32 kg NaOH is produced from
3192.75 kg raw material (raw salt).

So 1 kg NaOH is produced from

= (3192.75÷2083.31) kg raw salt

= 1.5325 kg raw salt

And we found from material balance that 1 kg NaOH is produced from 1.46 kg
NaCl . Thus 1 kg raw salt produced some sludge due to unnecessary other
component in raw salt. The amount of raw salt produced net amount sludge is
found as

Sludge (kg) = (1.5325—1.46) kg

= 0.0725 kg

The composition of raw salt is given bellow:

Ca2+ 0.227%
Mg2+ 0.049%
SO42- 0.645%
Total Iron 13.2 ppm
NaCl 95.43%
Moisture 3.649%

Sludge is produced by the following chemical reactions:

For Ca2+ removing we add NaCO3 which show the following reaction

CaCl2 + Na2CO3 = CaCO3 + 2NaCl

 34

So Ca2+ is present in 1.5325 kg raw salt

= (1.5325 × 0.00227) kg

=0.00347 kg

For Mg2+ removing the chemical reaction is as follow

MgCl2 + 2NaOH = 2NaCl + Mg(OH)2

So Mg2+ is present in raw salt = (1.5325× 0.00049) kg

=0.0075 kg

For SO42+ is present in 1.5325 kg raw salt= ( 1.5325 × 0.00645) kg

= 0.00988 kg

Moisture is present in 1.5325 kg raw salt = ( 1.5325 × 0.03469 ) kg

=0.0531 kg

Iron is present in 1.5325 kg raw salt = (1.5325 × 13.2 × 10-6)

=0.00002022 kg

Others component is present in 1.5325 kg raw salt = (1.5325 × 0.0053) kg

= 0.00812 kg

So total sludge is produced from 1.5325 kg raw salt = 0.0725 kg

Our plant supervisor gave us the plant capacity is 50 ton per day.

50 ton = (50 × 1000) kg = 50000 kg per day.

From above calculation we find 1 kg NaOH is produced when the amount of

sludge is 0.0725 kg. So total sludge produced = (50000 × 0.0725) kg = 3625 kg

So we can take a decision that Global Heavy Chemicals Ltd. Produce 3625 kg
sludge per day.