Editing Leblanc process (section)

{{short description|Former industrial process for producing sodium carbonate from salt}}
{{Infobox industrial process
| name           = Leblanc process
| caption        =
| type           = Chemical
| sector         = Chlor-alkali industry
| technologies   =
| feedstock      = [[sodium chloride]], [[sulfuric acid]], [[coal]], [[calcium carbonate]]
| product        = [[soda ash]], [[hydrochloric acid]], [[calcium sulfide]], [[carbon dioxide]]
| companies      =
| facility       =
| inventor       = [[Nicolas Leblanc]]
| year           = 1791
| developer      = [[William Losh]], [[James Muspratt]], [[Charles Tennant]]
}}
The '''Leblanc process''' was an early [[industrial process]] for making ''soda ash'' ([[sodium carbonate]]) used throughout the 19th century, named after its inventor, [[Nicolas Leblanc]].  It involved two stages: making [[sodium sulfate]] from [[sodium chloride]], followed by reacting the sodium sulfate with [[coal]] and [[calcium carbonate]] to make sodium carbonate.  The process gradually became obsolete after the development of the [[Solvay process]].