Question

When electricity is passed through an aqueous solution of Sodium chloride, three products are obtained. Why is the process called Chlor-alkali process?

Answer 1

• When electricity is passed through an aqueous solution of Sodium chloride. The three products obtained are Hydrogen, Chlorine, and Sodium hydroxide.
• The reaction involved in this process is as:

$\underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{chloride}}{2\mathrm{NaCl}}+\underset{\mathrm{Water}}{2{\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}}\to \underset{\mathrm{Sodium}\mathrm{hydroxide}}{2\mathrm{NaOH}}+\underset{\mathrm{Chlorine}}{{\mathrm{Cl}}_2}+\underset{\mathrm{Hydrogen}}{{\mathrm{H}}_2}$

• Due to the production of Chlorine and Sodium hydroxide formed, this process is called Chlor-alkali process.
• Here, chlor stands for Chlorine and alkali for Sodium hydroxide.