Sodium chlorate is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula NaClO3. It is a white crystalline powder that is readily soluble in water. It is hygroscopic. It decomposes above 300 °C to release oxygen and leaves sodium chloride. Several hundred million tons are produced annually, mainly for applications in bleaching pulp to produce high brightness paper.
Industrially, sodium chlorate is produced by the electrolysis of concentrated sodium chloride solutions. All other processes are obsolete. The sodium chlorate process is not to be confused with the chloralkali process, which is an industrial process for the electrolytic production of sodium hydroxide and chlorine gas.
The overall reaction can be simplified to the equation:
First, chloride is oxidised to form intermediate hypochlorite, ClO−, which undergoes further oxidisation to chlorate along two competing reaction paths: (1) Anodic chlorate formation at the boundary layer between the electrolyte and the anode, and (2) Autoxidation of hypochlorite in the bulk electrolyte.
Under electrolysis hydrogen and sodium hydroxide are formed at the cathode and chloride ions are discharged at the anode (mixed metal oxide electrode is often used). The evolved chlorine does not escape as a gas but undergoes hydrolysis:
The hydrolysis of chlorine is considered to be fast. The formation of H+ ions should make the boundary layer at the anode strongly acidic and this is observed at low chloride concentrations. However, large concentrations of chloride, as they occur in industrial chlorate cells, shift the hydrolysis equilibrium to the left. At the boundary layer the concentration of H+ is not high enough to permit diffusion into the bulk electrolyte. Therefore hydrogen is transported away from the anode mostly as hypochlorous acid rather than H+. The hypochlorous acid dissociates in the bulk electrolyte where the pH is high and the hypochlorite ion diffuses back to the anode. More than two thirds of the hypochlorite is consumed by buffering before reaching the anode.
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In chemistry, disproportionation, sometimes called dismutation, is a redox reaction in which one compound of intermediate oxidation state converts to two compounds, one of higher and one of lower oxidation states. The reverse of disproportionation, such as when a compound in an intermediate oxidation state is formed from precursors of lower and higher oxidation states, is called comproportionation, also known as synproportionation.
Bleach is the generic name for any chemical product that is used industrially or domestically to remove colour (whitening) from fabric or fiber or to clean or to remove stains in a process called bleaching. It often refers specifically to a dilute solution of sodium hypochlorite, also called "liquid bleach". Many bleaches have broad-spectrum bactericidal properties, making them useful for disinfecting and sterilizing. They are used in swimming pool sanitation to control bacteria, viruses, and algae and in many places where sterile conditions are required.
The chloralkali process (also chlor-alkali and chlor alkali) is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. It is the technology used to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which are commodity chemicals required by industry. Thirty five million tons of chlorine were prepared by this process in 1987. The chlorine and sodium hydroxide produced in this process are widely used in the chemical industry.
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