Seems like nearly every week we're posting about the wonders of baking soda. You can clean, deodorize and cook with it. It also goes by names like bread soda, cooking soda, sodium bicarbonate and bicarbonate of soda. But what is it?
First produced in the United States in 1839. Before that, it was imported from England. It has a nearly neutral pH, even when an acid or alkaline is added to it.
According to How Products Are Made:
"Sodium bicarbonate is obtained in two different ways. One is called the Solvay method, which is when sodium chloride (table salt) is heated with sulfuric acid. That produces sodium sulfate and hydrochloric acid. The sodium sulfate is then heated with coal and limestone to form sodium carbonate, or soda ash. Soda ash is then treated and refined to produce what we know as baking soda...though the chemicals used in this process present some problematic disposal issues."
The other method is to mine it from trona deposits. In Green River, Wyoming, there is a 2 billion ton deposit of trona which is reported to be large enough to supply the world with soda ash and sodium bicarbonate for thousands of years.
One interesting development is that in 2010, Skyonic Corporation in Austin, Texas was awarded an EPA grant to create baking soda from CO2 it captures from air pollution.
So, the fact is that baking soda production requires either mining or creates hazardous bi-products. But, it is a non-toxic product that replaces far more hazardous cleaning chemicals in your home. By no means do I want to deter anyone from using baking soda or sound an alarm bell about this, because as we know there is little that we use that is 100% perfect or impact-free. But I do like to learn how things come to be and know that many of you do, too.
(Image: Dr. Frank Lipton / Annie R. Bond)
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I read the first sentence of the explanation and I thought:
"First produced in 1839in the United Sates?!"
I thought was produced in Europe and much early. Wiki helped me out. My memory didn't fail me for once. ;o)
Sodium bicarbonate was first produced in 1791 in France.
Diridi, I think Michelle means that it first began to be produced IN THE UNITED STATES in 1839, though it was produced elsewhere much earlier than that.
Well, then the sentence should have been: "In the US was first produced in 1839".
At least that's what I was taught at school.
Sorry @diridi your replacement sentence doesn't make any sense. I think the way Michelle has it is fine. Especially since the follow up sentence clarifies that it was not invented in the US.
I think the second sentence clears it up just fine :) And since I got my proverbial hand slapped last week by another commenter because she thought I used Wiki as a primary resource, I'll pass along the same caution. Thank you for your input diridi!
Thank you for this. This type of post is vital if we are to truly be green and avoid being bilked by companies who perpetuate the myth that all plants are as harmful as any chemical product. The fact is, we can analyze basic ingredients, but we can't understand Clorox ingredients if they don't list the damned things and why should we believe a green label slapped on anything.
We must treat all chemicals, even the most basic ones, with respect and relaize that the more you know about chemicals and chemistry, the more you realize what we don't know. That's what grad school taught me.
Thanks for the article and nice follow-up, Emmi.
Grammar trolls: please keep it in your pants until you read the whole paragraph. K. Thx. Bye.