What is the product formed when bauxite ore is treated with sodium hydroxide?
What is the product formed when bauxite ore is treated with sodium hydroxide?
Sodium meta aluminate
Aluminium hydroxide
Sodium aluminate
Sodium hydrogen carbonate
Solution
Conc. sodium hydroxide.
Bauxite ore is finely divided and heated under pressure with concentrated caustic soda solution at $150^{\circ} \mathrm{C}$ to obtain sodium meta-aluminate. The following reaction is as follows:
$\underset{\text { Bauxite }}{\mathrm{Al}_{2} \mathrm{O}_{3} .2 \mathrm{H}_{2} \mathrm{O}+2 \mathrm{NaOH}} \stackrel{150^{0} \mathrm{C}}{\longrightarrow} 2 \mathrm{NaAlO}_{2}+\underset{\text { sodium meta aluminate }}{3 \mathrm{H}_{2} \mathrm{O}}$