A clean production process of sodium chlorite from sodium chlorate

This paper presents a novel cleaner production process for producing sodium chlorite by reducing sodium chlorate with hydrogen peroxide. In the new process, chlorine dioxide is generated by reducing chlorate ions with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of sulfuric acid: it then reacts with aqueous sodium hydroxide solution and hydrogen peroxide to produce sodium chlorite. The reaction conditions that were experimentally investigated included: reaction temperatures, concentrations of sodium chlorate solution, molar ratio of NaClO3:H2SO4:H2O2, and acidity. Waste acid in the chlorine dioxide generator is dramatically reduced with recycling in the new process. The by-produced sodium sulfate in sulfuric acid is minimized and reclaimed.