Production of NaOH - what order? (1 Viewer)

[the librarian]

I've always thought that the order that the cells were discovered/used in were the diaphragm cell, the mercury cell, then the membrane cell... but the hsc question from 2007 (http://boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/hsc_exams/exam-papers-2007/pdf_doc/chemistry_07.pdf) implies that it was mercury, diaphragm, membrane. So which was it? Probably doesn't matter, but I'd rather know all the same...

 

[benji6667]

Hey, I was confused too when i saw the 07 quesiton. The conquering chemistry textbook claims that the Mercury process was developed as a response to the issues associated with the diaphragm process (i.e. use of asbestos, impure product from NaCl contamination etc)

But when you think about it, its more logical that the Diaphragm process replaced the Mercury process as the next step in innovation is the Membrane process, which is just a modification of the former.

I don't have any actual dates on when the respective processes were invented/implemented, if you could find those you'd get a more definate answer.

 

[Undermyskin]

Except for Conquering Chem, all the other text books I've read indicate that Mercury-Diaphragm-Membrane.

 

[the librarian]

Yeah, that does make more sense. I've got the conquering chemistry textbook, gence the confusion. Thanks!