Sodium carbonate, Light soda ash to storage

Activity Soda ash by the Solvay ammonia-soda process (1000 t/d light ash, concept), GLO: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewedsoda-ash-1:soda-ash-by-the-solvay-ammonia-soda-process-1000-t-d-light-soda-ash:product:SODAReport a problem with this dataset
Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Unallocated foreground LCI of Soda ash by the Solvay ammonia-soda process (1000 t/d light soda ash), case design, derived from the flowsheet by cheme assess lca.

Reference product
1 kilogram of Sodium carbonate, Light soda ash to storage (1.01325 bar(a), 160 degC, 99.5 % Na2CO3 (mass))
Chemical
sodium-carbonate
CAS
497-19-8
Code
soda-ash-1:soda-ash-by-the-solvay-ammonia-soda-process-1000-t-d-light-soda-ash:product:SODA
Dataset
soda-ash-by-the-solvay-ammonia-soda-process-1000-t-d-light-soda-ash version 0.1.0 · UUID b498b28a-f6d4-5edf-8a0b-e5a5abbb2e0e
Activity UUID
not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348 (version preview-c3ab348)
Process
Soda ash by the Solvay ammonia-soda process (1000 t/d light ash, concept)
Geography
GLO · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period
2026 · valid until 2031
Technology
Solvay ammonia-soda process: mixed-feed shaft lime kiln, ammoniation, carbonating towers, rotary vacuum filter, steam calciner, ammonia distiller with milk of lime; 1000 t/d light soda ash · level current
Boundary
gate-to-gate foreground of the plant
Production volume
333,333,600 kg/a (product:SODA per hour x operation.hours_per_year (8000 h/a))
Classification
ISIC Rev.4 2011 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model
attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation
none, 100 % of the dataset to this product (rule single-output, from study)
one product: nothing to allocate
Rights
CC-BY-4.0: the ChemE-as-Code process library's own concept design (LICENSE-DATA)

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Sodium carbonate, Light soda ash to storage

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 12 assumed. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

InputAmountUnitProvenancePedigreeLinked to
Limestone (crushed and screened)
feed:LST
stream S1 (D-005, D-006)
From stream S1
1.082kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3market for limestone, crushed, washed (limestone, crushed, washed, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Coke (kiln fuel)
feed:COKE
stream S2 (process/furnaces.yaml, D-004)
From stream S2
0.08755kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: coke, per kg as fired, as energy (Atlas unit proxy) (coke, by mass, GLO)
Purified saturated brine at battery limits
feed:BRINE
stream S8 (scripts/solvay_balance.py, D-006)
From stream S8
5.781kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: sodium chloride brine, 26 wt-% NaCl, per kg of solution (Atlas unit proxy) (sodium chloride brine, 26 wt-%, GLO)
Ammonia make-up (liquid)
feed:NH3
stream S10: make-up equal to the losses (D-006)
From stream S10
0.001999kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3market for ammonia, anhydrous, liquid (ammonia, anhydrous, liquid, RER) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Process water
feed:PW
streams S6 (slaking) and S20 (cake wash)
From streams S6, S20
3.48kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3market for water, deionised (water, deionised, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
LP steam 450 kPa(a), live steam to the distiller
feed:LPS
stream S23: live steam to the distiller, solved from the distiller heat balance (D-008)
From stream S23
1.884kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: steam, saturated, 11 bar(a), per kg, as heat from steam (Atlas unit proxy) (steam, saturated, 11 bar(a), GLO)
HP steam 3000 kPa(a) to the calciner (condensate returned)
feed:HPS
Q9: calciner duty (D-008)
steam, HP, 233.85 degC, 30 bar(a)
From stream Q9
0.6763kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
Electric power
feed:POWER
Q1 + Q3 (compressors) + Q5 (auxiliaries, ASSUMED 35 kWh/t), D-008
electricity
From streams Q1, Q3, Q5
0.1119kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Distiller waste (CaCl2 liquor with suspended solids) to settling ponds
product:DSW
stream S24 (D-006)
From stream S24
11.19kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas (plant): wastewater to treatment, per kg (Atlas unit proxy) (wastewater, by mass, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names wastewater only; wastewater (Wastewater treated) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)
Cooling water return
product:CW
Q2, Q4, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q10 (D-008)
cold, 25 degC
From streams Q2, Q4, Q6, Q7, Q8, Q10
1.466kilowatt hourassumed4 4 1 3 3Atlas (plant): cooling water service, per kWh heat rejected (Atlas screening proxy) (heat rejected to cooling water, GLO)
compatible: grade the input names cooling-water only; cooling-water (Heat rejected to cooling water, 25/35 degC) is taken; unit kilowatt hour; carrier cold, 25 degC from cold, 25 degC; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)

Elementary flows

FlowDirectionCompartmentAmountUnitProvenancePedigree
Carbon dioxide, fossil
aa7cac3a-3625-41d4-bc54-33e2cf11ec46
From stream S13
emissionair / non-urban air or from high stacks0.3062kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3
Ammonia
0f440cc0-0f74-446d-99d6-8ff0e97a2444
From stream S13
emissionair / non-urban air or from high stacks5.003e-4kilogramassumed4 4 1 3 3

The streams are the plant's own flows: an amount here is allocated and per 1 kilogram of Sodium carbonate, Light soda ash to storage, so it differs from the stream's flow, and it can sum several streams.

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/soda-ash-1/lca/dataset.yaml in library version c3ab348.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review
Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet
Data quality
DQR 2.33 · PEF-style DQR 2.75
TeR 3 · GeR 3 · TiR 1 · P 4 · C 4 · weakest TeR · primary data 0 %
Mass and carbon closure
Assessed (lca/manifest.json balance, tolerance 5 %: design maturity concept (sourced screening))
  • lci-carbon-origin: closed
  • lci-element-balance: closed
  • lci-mass-balance: closed
Change report
Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

Not available: no benchmarked KPI for this dataset.

How to use it

Downloads

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-c3ab348", "soda-ash-1:soda-ash-by-the-solvay-ammonia-soda-process-1000-t-d-light-soda-ash:product:SODA"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

Sodium carbonate, Light soda ash to storage, from Soda ash by the Solvay ammonia-soda process (1000 t/d light ash, concept) (dataset soda-ash-by-the-solvay-ammonia-soda-process-1000-t-d-light-soda-ash 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-c3ab348, activity soda-ash-1:soda-ash-by-the-solvay-ammonia-soda-process-1000-t-d-light-soda-ash:product:SODA. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-c3ab348.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026, in preparation). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title).

BibTeX
@unpublished{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for AI-Accelerated Chemical Process Engineering (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}