Abstract

In the process of making sodium carbonate from trona by the method involving crushing the trona, calcining it and dissolving it in an aqueous medium for purification by crystallization, soluble silicate contamination of the crystallization liquor is reduced by an improvement which involves: (a) segregating the calcined trona into a coarse and a fine fraction; (b) separately dissolving the coarse and fine fractions to obtain aqueous solutions of sodium carbonate, sodium silicates and insoluble impurities; (c) optionally adding to the solution of the fine fraction insoluble impurities which have been separated from a solution of such fine fraction in a previous operation; followed by (d) digesting the solution of the fine fraction containing added insolubles at elevated temperature to insolubilize soluble silicates and separating the digested solution from insoluble impurities.