this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2025
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You don't need to go up to 400°F to decompose baking soda into washing soda. Decomposition starts around 122⁰F (50⁰C) and is complete at around 250⁰F (120⁰C)
Depending on the thickness you put in the pan you may want to put the oven around 300⁰F so to speed up the process.
You can safely go to higher temperature as it won't ever be overcooked.
details
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonateHeating to transform (baking soda) sodium bicarbonate into (washing soda) sodium carbonate does remove moisture but also removes carbon dioxide :
When sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO~3~) is heated, it undergoes a decomposition reaction to form sodium carbonate (Na~2~CO~3~), water (H~2~O), and carbon dioxide (CO~2~).
The reaction can be represented as :
2NaHCO~3~ + heat → Na~2~CO~3~ + H~2~O + CO~2~
I also wonder about the cost of using the oven, and whether it's cheaper than just buying washing soda.
P = = oven average power ~1kW=1/1000MW
C = = electricity cost ~50 to 200 $/MWh
Δt = = process time duration ~1.0h
Total = P x C x Δt
... so, a few cents maximum, right ?
... it's more the time and effort you put in !
When you put it that way, it's not nearly as expensive as I thought.