Trona - Raw Material Details | RMRDC Digital Library

Overview

Trona (trisodium hydrogendicarbonate dihydrate); Na₃(CO₃)(HCO₃)•2H₂O is an evaporite mineral.

Trona (kanwa) also known as potash is one of the complex salts which is used for the production of Soda-ash. Trona ore contains over 60% of sodium carbonate. It gets its name from a discarded Arabic word for native salt, "tron", which is derived from the word "natrun

Trona is a non-marine evaporite mineral. It is mined as the primary source of sodium carbonate in the United States, where it has replaced the Solvay process used in most of the rest of the world for sodium carbonate production.

Uses & Applications

Production of soda ash ,which is used in the manufacturer of glass

Characteristics

Formula: Na₃(Co₃)(Hco₃)•2h₂o

Category: Carbonate Mineral

Color: Colorless Or White, Also Grey To Yellowish Grey

Crystal Habit:: Columnar, Fibrous And Massive.

Crystal System: Monoclinic - Prismatic 2/m

Cleavage: [100] perfect, [111] and [001] indistinct

Fracture: Brittle – subconchoidal

Mohs scale hardness: 2.5

Luster: Vitreous

Streak: White

Specific gravity: 2.11 - 2.17

Optical properties: Biaxial (-)

Refractive index: nα = 1.412 nβ = 1.492 nγ = 1.540

Solubility: Soluble in water

Occurrence

Trona is found in large quantities in Lake Chad Basin, Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Adamawa and Bauchi State. The chemical analysis of the trona ore from Borno State revealed that it contains 20-26% pure ash, which means that the trona deposit in the country can be economically refined

Investment Opportunities

Soda ash is presently wholly imported to meet current annual national requirement of about 30,000 tonnes. Considering its wide application in the production of glass , it is one of the strategic minerals in which investment would be needed to satisfy local demand.

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