Chloralkali process

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),^[1] which are commodity chemicals required by industry. Thirty five million tons of chlorine were prepared by this process in 1987.^[2] The chlorine and sodium hydroxide produced in this process are widely used in the chemical industry.

Usually the process is conducted on a brine (an aqueous solution of concentrated NaCl), in which case sodium hydroxide (NaOH), hydrogen, and chlorine result. When using calcium chloride or potassium chloride, the products contain calcium or potassium instead of sodium. Related processes are known that use molten NaCl to give chlorine and sodium metal or condensed hydrogen chloride to give hydrogen and chlorine.

The process has a high energy consumption, for example around 2,500 kWh (9,000 MJ) of electricity per tonne of sodium hydroxide produced. Because the process yields equivalent amounts of chlorine and sodium hydroxide (two moles of sodium hydroxide per mole of chlorine), it is necessary to find a use for these products in the same proportion. For every mole of chlorine produced, one mole of hydrogen is produced. Much of this hydrogen is used to produce hydrochloric acid, ammonia, hydrogen peroxide, or is burned for power and/or steam production.^[3]