Sodium Sulfate: Properties, Sources, Preparation and Uses

Sodium Sulfate is the sodium salt of Sulfuric Acid. The chemical formula of Sodium Sulfate is Na₂SO₄. It is a white crystalline solid with no odor. Sodium sulfate (also known as sodium sulfate or sulfate of soda) is the inorganic compound with the formula Na₂SO₄. Anhydrous sulfate is a white crystalline solid which is also known as the mineral thenardite, whereas the decahydrate Sulfate is Na₂SO₄.10H₂O is also known as Glauber’s salt or mirabilis.

Na₂SO₄.7H₂O transforms to mirabilite when cooled. The natural mineral form of the decahydrate is the Mirabilite. Mirabilite is the source of about two-thirds of the world’s production of Sodium Sulfate. Sodium Sulfate is also produced as the by-products of chemical processes such as during hydrochloric acid production.

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Discovery of Sodium Sulfate

In the year 1625, a man named Johann Rudolf Glauber discovered Sodium Sulfate from the Austrian spring water. Therefore, the hydrate form is known as Glauber’s salt. Since the Glauber salt has medicinal properties, he named it Sal Mirabilis (also known as Miraculous Salt).

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Properties of Sodium Sulfate

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Sources of Sodium Sulfate

• Sodium sulfate-bearing mineral deposits are geologically young and are abundant all around the world.
• Sodium sulfate is the main component of seawater and many saline or alkaline lakes.
• Economic reserves of natural sodium sulfate are about 3.3 billion tons worldwide.
• The quantity of synthetic sodium sulfate production is dependent on the longevity of the manufacturing firms recovering by-product sulfate.
• Surface depressions or lakes with no outlets and such lakes which are filled with spring waters flowing over volcanic rocks containing sulfide minerals, often yield soluble sulfate salts that are oxidized when contacted with the air to produce sulfates.

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How is Sodium Sulfate prepared?

In the year 1625, Johann Rudolf Glauber discovered sodium sulfate from Austrian spring water, which is why the hydrate form is known as Glauber’s salt. Due to its medicinal properties, he named it ‘sal mirabilis’, in other words, miraculous salt.

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Around one-third of the world’s sodium sulfate is produced as a by-product of other processes in the chemical industry. For example, it is produced when sodium chloride and sulphuric acid are mixed.

2 NaCl + H₂SO₄ → 2 HCl + Na₂SO₄

Until the 1900s, the crystals were used as a general-purpose laxative. Glauber’s salt in reaction with potassium carbonate or potash was used as a raw material for the production of soda ash in the 18th century. In the nineteenth century, the demand for soda ash increased, so the large-scale Leblanc process became the principal method of soda ash production as it produces synthetic sodium sulfate.

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• There are Sulfates present in all body cells, which have the highest concentrations of connective tissues, bones, and cartilages. Sulfates play an important role in several important metabolic pathways, including those involved in detoxification processes.
• There are two types of sodium sulfate: natural and synthetic.
• It is from sources such as naturally occurring brines and crystalline deposits found in California and Texas, natural Sodium Sulfate is produced. It is also found as a component in the saline lakes, such as the Great Salt Lake in Utah.
• Synthetic sodium sulfate is extracted as a by-product of various manufacturing processes.

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Uses of Sodium Sulfate

• Sodium sulfate is used to dry organic liquids.
• Sodium Sulfate can be used as a filler in powdered home laundry detergents.
• It is commonly used as a fining agent which removes small air bubbles from molten glass.
• Glauber’s salt, the decahydrate, was once used as a laxative that removes certain drugs such as acetaminophen from the body.
• For defrosting windows, in carpet fresheners, starch manufacture, as an additive to cattle feed, sodium sulfate is essential.
• Sodium sulfate is an important ingredient in the manufacture of detergents and the Kraft process of paper pulping.

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Things to Remember

• The sodium salt of sulfuric acid is known as Sodium Sulfate.
• Sodium Sulfate's chemical formula is Na₂SO₄.
• The main source of Sodium Sulfate is Mirabilite.
• There are two forms of Sodium Sulfate- a) Natural, b) Synthetic.
• Sodium Sulfate is a necessary ingredient in cloth detergents.
• All forms of Sodium Sulphates are highly soluble and essentially white in colour.
• The boiling point of Sodium Sulphate is 1,429°C.
• The melting point of Sodium Sulphate is 884°C.

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