The production of sodium hydroxide in the first place requires vast amounts of energy.

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First, you dig up bauxite which you then crush and boil in sodium hydroxide (lye, or caustic soda).

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The sodium hydroxide to carbonate then electrolysing to produce CO2: that looks a bit odd but is sensible enough.

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Five entrepreneurs founded the Electro-Alkaline Company in 1913 by creating a bleach product with chlorine and sodium hydroxide as its main ingredients.

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One of the region's most famous offerings in this category is Lutefisk - aged, dried white fish soaked in lye (sodium hydroxide).

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So anyone looking at this sequence would immediately decide to get their hydrogen from that sodium hydroxide production not from the electrolysis of water.

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The machine blends iron, bleach and sodium hydroxide to form a dark purple liquid mixture of ferrate, salt and water that gets metered into the water supply. (The color disappears instantly as it reacts with the water.) Common disinfectants ozone and chlorine can turn the water cloudy or, worse, leave behind harmful chemical by-products.

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While the company is focused on lithium carbonate, an updated feasibility study in October 2012 showed the ability to produce an additional 2, 000 tons of battery-grade lithium hydroxide and up to 30, 000 tons of sodium sulphate annually.

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